Storm Warning
by Tallulah Grammar Songstress
Summary: A horrific murder in the GGs, and now one of them is a killer. Gum's sure she can find out who, but it's not so easy when she's the prime suspect... Character death.
1. 1

Chapter 01

(I don't own JSR. I do own Botan. I think that's all there is to say. Please r+r!)

Tokyo-to in the rain.

It was one a.m. In front of the garage stood a damp, angry figure.

She glanced at her watch, and sighed. Her lips were pressed together, forming a painful line of miserable fury.

She wore a cream minidress, at the moment soaked and sticking to her cold legs. Flung over the dress was an old coat, which was hanging heavy with the weight of the water. Her feet were squashed into a battered pair of trainers, speckled with holes. One eye was blackened, and there was a bruised cut on her cheek. 

Thunder growled above her, and she glanced up, her damp eyes glinting in the lightning that flickered above them.

"Come on…" she whispered. As she spoke her mouth trembled, and she quickly forced it back into an uncaring expression. Then she rubbed one damp white-gloved hand across her face. 

Over the hiss of the rain echoed a low growl, that became louder and louder until three motorbikes screeched to a halt in front of the girl. More water splashed over her legs, but she didn't seem to notice. 

"Hey, Gen, you ready?" one of the riders said.

"Yeah – yeah, I'm coming." The girl tried to smile, and came to sit behind the lead rider. 

"What's that?" 

"What?"

"That weird scratchy noise."

"Oh…that's just Jet Set Radio…" The girl bit her lip. She looked down at her radio wristwatch, and then, with one swift movement, ripped it off her wrist.

"What's Jet Set Radio?"

"Nothing. A dumb radio station."

The girl turned to glance back at the garage. Rain dribbled down the graffiti tags covering its walls. For a moment her eyes shone with tears, then she blinked them away, drew back her arm, and hurled the watch into the streams running along the gutter.

"Let's go," she said. "This place was getting old."

The riders gunned their engines, and the motorbikes tore off into the rainy night.

The watch lay on the pavement, its face rippling as the rainwater passed over it. 

The bikes rode.

Gum stared at the lettering on the back of her cousin's jacket. _Riders On The Storm, _in sharp vicious letters like bolts of lightning.

Her throat hurt from keeping back the tears. She didn't want to leave the GGs. She'd thought – well, she'd thought they'd always be together. All friends. Looking out for each other whether they ended up in jail or the Old Folks Home.

Well, you thought wrong, she told herself. Her throat ached from keeping down the tears. You thought wrong. They think you're a psycho. They think you're a killer. They think you – she stopped her brain. Remembering it all still hurt.

But they could be right, a treacherous voice murmured. You know they could. You could have done it. 

Gum gritted her teeth so hard that they ached. Well, it doesn't matter if I did or if I didn't. I'm leaving the GGs. They don't want me and nor does anyone else. 

The Riders wouldn't let her stay. She'd have to go on, find some other place, some place where she could forget. Forgetting would be nice. Just impossible.

The sky growled again. Gum looked up. The darkness was being torn in half by banks of shining cloud. She shivered, and clung tighter to Botan's shoulders. Somewhere out there was someone who had a real mental problem.

What if that person was her?

She felt sick, her stomach trembled, and she tried not to think any more.

They seemed to drive for hours, finally screeching to a halt outside a tall, battered block of flats.

"Come on." Botan helped her off the bike. "Let's get inside."

The other two guys nodded to him, then roared off into the night again.

Gum let her cousin lead her up the steps to the balcony on the front of the building, and followed him along to one of the faded green doors. The ground was damp. Water soaked into her trainers, freezing her already numbed toes. 

"Thanks for picking me up," she said.

"No worries." Botan unlocked the door. "You're family."

Gum walked inside, and instantly wanted to run back out again. This was too familiar. This was like home. Her old home. 

The walls were painted a sickly yellow. The room smelt of old meals, cabbage, curry, and one bare light bulb hung there, glinting as the lightning flashed.

"Not bad, huh?" Botan grinned. 

"It's okay." Gum watched as the water dripping off her soaked into the dust on the floor.

"Hey, I thought you've been a street punk since you ran out on everyone."

"Rudie." Gum wrapped her arms round herself, feeling her clothes squelch. 

"Whatever. Why the this-ain't-good-enough act?"

"I'm sorry. I've been through some stuff and I'm kinda tense."

"What stuff?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Botan shrugged and crossed over to the rusty cooker on the far side. "You want anything to eat?"

"It's –" She glanced at her watch, then remembered she didn't have it any more. "It's the middle of the night."

"I'm just trying to be a good host."

"I don't want to be hosted. I just want to sleep."

"Okay. You can have the sofa."

Gum followed his gaze to where a sagging brown sofa was leaning against the wall. "Thanks."

"See you in the morning, then?"

"Whatever."

Botan walked out of the room, and left her.

Gum crept over to the sofa, and dropped down on it. It groaned underneath her, and she heard a spring snap in the depths. 

She lay down, staring up at the stained ceiling above her. Outside it was very quiet. Tokyo-to was asleep. 

I'm totally alone, Gum thought to herself. She couldn't stay with Botan forever. He was just putting her up for the night. So tomorrow she'd leave, go to another city even, try again. 

How? She closed her eyes as the question reverberated in her mind. She couldn't be a rudie now. Her skates were gone, she'd left them back at the garage. 

But that was good. She had to face the fact being a rudie had been the wrong choice. It had brought her nowhere but to this place. 

And if it's you who did it, you'll just keep on failing…

"I won't," Gum said, trying to drown out the thought. "I won't, because I didn't do it!"

She screamed the last few words. There was a clap of thunder, and Botan came out of his room.

"What's with you?" he snapped.

"Nothing."

"Look, you may as well tell me. Doesn't look like we're gonna get much sleep tonight."

Gum looked at him. She didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to tell anyone. But part of her brain wondered if talking about it – passing it on to someone else – might ease the pain.

"Okay," she said. "Okay, fine. I'll tell you. You wanna hear it? I'll tell you."

"Then get on with it, and stop stalling," Botan said.

"Fine." Gum closed her eyes, tried to think. "It started…I think it started about a week ago…"

It was raining, and the garage smelt of mud and damp hair.

Gum sat on the sofa, channel-hopping. Normally, she'd be out doing skating, or tagging, or something, but she hated going out in the rain if she didn't have to. 

Mew was leaning against the sound system, talking to Slate, whom she went out with. She didn't like getting wet either, and Slate always hung wherever she did. 

_"In what experts are claiming is the wettest autumn in Japan since the…"_

Gum switched off the weather report, and turned to stare out of the garage window. The sky was dark, and rain hissed against the glass, lying under the sounds of Jet Set Radio, of the pinball table bleeping, and Mew's and Slate's voices.

Which were rising.

"Don't give me a hard time," Mew snapped. "I'm sorry, okay, but –"

"You're sorry? Oh, good!" Sarcasm rang in Slate's voice. "You've met another guy and you're gonna go screw his brains out, but you're sorry. Well, that makes it all right, don't it?"

"Slate, shut up." Mew glared at him. "There's nothing I can do."

"You could try not listening to your hormones for once in your life."

"I don't have to stand here and listen to this," Mew snapped.

"Then don't. I sure don't want to see you any more."

"Fine!" Mew marched across to the garage door and wrenched it open. "You won't have to!" For a moment she stood silhouetted against the rain, then she turned and walked out into the greyness.

Slate watched her go. His eyes were narrowed. Then he turned, dashed away into the other room, and slammed the door behind him.

Gum sighed. Poor Slate. What was with Mew, throwing him off like that? He fancied her rotten. She wondered who this other guy was. Another GG? The only GG guy that seemed likely was Beat…

Gum let a small smile creep onto her face at the thought of Beat. He was always there for her, at least. She spent large portions of her life being angry, but he never walked away from her. 

No, but Mew had never shown any interest in any of the other guys before. Some of them – especially Yo-Yo – had shown interest in her, but she'd never responded. Except to Slate, of course.

Well, maybe it was some guy from another gang. Or maybe she's lying. Gum rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she cared about Mew's love life. It was just with this everlasting rain she needed a distraction. When even skating wasn't fun…

The door flew open again, and she looked up to see Beat, Tab, and Cube coming in, all soaked to the skin. 

"So it's still raining, then," she said, getting to her feet.

"Very funny." Tab shook himself like a dog, and water spattered around him. Taking off his hat and wringing it out, he said, "If this don't let up I'm going into another line of work."

"It's not that bad," Cube said, flicking damp hair out of her eyes. "Refreshing, at least. And Onishima's finding it a lot harder to chase us in the rain. He doesn't come out personally half so much."

"Anyway, it's got to stop sometime," Beat said. 

Gum walked over to him and he absently put an arm round her waist. 

"So you got something done?" she asked.

Beat kissed her on the cheek, his lips cold. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, I guess so. Look, I got to go, okay? Got stuff to do."

"Ah, come on, Beat," Gum said. "You've been out all morning. Can't you hang with me even a little?"

"I will," he said. "I just got to meet someone now. See ya, okay?"

He kissed her again, quickly, and walked back out into the rain.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Cube said. "Guys have no sense of timing."

"I resent that," Tab said. "My timing is perfect."

"Sure it is," Gum said. She glared at the closed garage door, feeling stamped on. So much for Beat always being there for her.

"Hey, Gum, want a pinball tournament?" Tab said.

"Huh?"

"You beat me last time, but I been practising, and there's a hi-score space with my name on it."

"I don't know." Gum sighed.

"Just say yes." Tab grabbed her hands and dragged her towards the pinball machine. "I won't ask for a smile and a song. Just play, okay?"

"If you insist."

"I do." And more quietly, "And don't worry about Beat, okay? I guess he's just in a jerky mood at the moment. It'll pass."

"You should know," Gum retorted, switching on the machine.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Now just sit back and watch while I kick your ass."

"In your dreams."

She won. But it didn't make her feel much better. 

As the day wore on, she lay on the sofa, listening to the thunder growl, and wondering why she was suddenly so upset by this. It wasn't like Beat'd said he was mad with her. 

You're just scared he doesn't like you any more, a dark voice whispered.

I'm not scared. I don't care if he doesn't like me. I don't need him, or anyone. I've never needed anyone before, have I?

Rain rattled on the garage roof.

He likes someone else. He's just like everyone. He thinks I'm a crazy bitch.

Don't be so stupid. I'm not crazy. _I'm not. _I'm a little touchy – so what? We've all got our faults. And Beat knows I'm like that. So he wouldn't drop me now. Would he?

She looked over at Slate, who was playing on the pinball machine slightly more violently than would be felt necessary. _He'd _just got dropped. Who was to say she wouldn't be next?

I won't let him. The thought rang out in her mind. I won't let him. She clenched her fists as the thunder rolled.

I won't.

The next morning it was still raining. Gum opened her eyes, and cursed.

"And a very good morning to you, too." Tab's voice echoed from above her.

"Why won't it stop bloody well raining?"

"It's the wettest autumn since I don't know. How are you, anyway?"

"Sick."

"Huh?"

"Sick of rain."

"Very funny. Anyway, I thought –"

"Hey, Gum, how are you?"

Gum sat up as she heard Beat's voice. "I'm fine. So you're back, then?"

"Yep." Beat straightened his headphones. "You're not mad?"

"No."

Tell him, her mind said.

No way. Screaming at him might make him disappear again.

Great. You're turning into one of those bimbos who do everything for their boyfriends. Yuck. 

"Are you coming out skating?" Beat's voice broke into her thoughts.

Gum looked with disgust at the rain, then sighed. "Sure." She couldn't keep hiding in here. "I'll come."

Outside the roads were streams, speckled with rubbish. The water swirled around Gum's skates as she followed Beat across to the bus terminal.

"I hope we don't flood," he said.

"You think we might?"

"Well, it's not like the garage is on a hill, is it?"

Gum sighed, and started tagging a bus. He didn't have to speak to you like you were a prat, part of her mind muttered.

Why do I have a boyfriend in the first place? He's nothing but trouble!

She was half-joking, but then at the thought of them breaking up a cold hand that had nothing to do with the weather gripped her stomach.

Suddenly she heard a shriek, and looked round to see two other rudies standing facing each other under the bridge.

"Listen, munchkin," a voice she recognised as Mew's snarled. "Either you leave me alone, or I kill you. Which is it to be?"

"Mew, I just wanted to talk to you, okay?"

That was Yo-Yo, sounding uncharacteristically cross.

"Yeah, right! What does 'talking' mean this time? Stealing my bra? Slapping my butt? Or just the plain old wolf-whistle?"

"I've changed, okay? Well, not totally…but this time I do just want to talk. Honest."

"So get on with it," Mew snapped.

"Um…" Yo-Yo stared at his feet, shuffled them, sending ripples across the water. He took a deep breath.

"IreallylikeyouandIwaswonderingnowSlate'sgoneperhapsyou'dliketogooutwithme?"

"What?" Mew screamed. "Oh, very funny, gummi bear! Just grow up and get a life!"

Gum winced as Mew shoved Yo-Yo backwards. He lost his balance and sat down in the puddles.

"Leave me alone!" Mew shouted, and skated away.

Gum skated over to Yo-Yo, and saw Beat approach from the other side.

"You okay, man?" Beat helped the damp GG to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm just swell. Getting rejected makes my day." Yo-Yo scowled. "I'm going home, okay? If you see Mew, tell her I'm sorry I existed."

He skated off out of the bus terminal, and was lost in the rain.

"I don't think I've seen Yo-Yo that mad before," Beat said. "Still, he does like Mew."

"Can't imagine why." Gum shivered, her fingers stinging with cold.

Beat looked at her, and she felt sick as she saw dislike in his face. "Just quit getting at Mew, okay?" he snapped. "She's not a total bimbo, you know. Maybe you're the one who should grow up and get a life."

"What?" Gum stammered.

Beat glanced at the ground. "I'm sorry, okay?" he said. "I didn't mean that. But it's just – stop being so mean about other people. It's boring."

Gum stared at him, unable to speak.

"Stop looking like that." Beat turned away from her. "I said I was sorry."

He began to skate back to the bus terminal. Gum stood, staring at him, and then she screamed after him, "I hate you!"

Her voice echoed around the bus terminal, childish and furious. He didn't look back.

She could feel her whole body shaking with rage. It frightened her. If she didn't do something, it would break her, it was too big for her to contain…

She looked around the bus terminal, and saw Beat's tag on the side of one of the buses. She dashed over to it, whipped out a can of black paint, and sprayed all over the tag until it was nothing but a dark, dripping mess. 

Then she began to skate home.

She was almost back at the garage when she saw Beat up ahead. He was skating with Mew. They were talking, and she saw Beat reach out and brush some raindrops off Mew's arm. 

They look like a couple, Gum thought.

Then – no. No. They can't be.

Sick with fury, she skated faster, and caught up with them. "Hi."

"Oh, hey, Gum." Mew gave her a smile. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, I guess." Why are you walking with him? What were you talking about?

"Hey, Gum, I'm sorry," Beat said. "I just –"

"Don't worry about it." Were you angry because it was Mew I dissed? You think she's better than me?

Don't you dare steal my boyfriend, Mew. Don't you dare.

As they entered the garage Gum turned and walked away from them both, not wanting to see how they looked at each other. She could feel everyone's eyes on her back, so she hurried into the next room and dropped down on the old sofa the GGs had put there.

She could feel herself trembling, and it disgusted her. Why was she so scared about just losing a boyfriend? She'd still be able to see him.

She heard the front door open and close – the rattle of rain on the roof – music outside. But she didn't want to go out there and be friendly. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she rested her head on them, and felt acidic tears sting her eyes.

She must have dozed off there, for she was woken by a crash.

Peeling open her eyes, she glanced up just in time to see Cube throw a can of paint across the room. It struck the wall, and the Gothic GG shouted, "Fine! Be like that! See if I – damn – well – care –" With each word she flung another can of paint.

"Cube?" Gum said. "Um – what's happened?"

Cube jumped, dropping the last can, and turned round. "Oh. Oh, sorry, I didn't see you – I thought you'd gone out."

"What's with you?"

Cube blushed. "Nothing. I'm just pissed about something."

"I gathered _that."_

"I got a mental slap round the face, that's all." Cube shrugged. "Some – some guy."

"Who?"

"I'd rather not say. It was just a big mess, that's all. I told – I told him I – liked him – and he wasn't too keen. That's all."

"I'm sorry." 

"Forget about it." Cube glanced down at her fingers. "I thought I was the only one here – after he stormed out –"

"He _stormed _out?"

"I told you he wasn't too keen." She smiled, but Gum could see hurt in her face. "I thought I was on my own, that's why I freaked. Did I wake you or something?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it."

"You don't look too happy yourself," Cube said. "Are you and Beat having a row or something?"

"I don't know. He told me he thinks I'm a bitch."

"No way!"

"Way. Wasn't exactly a Valentine's card."

"Ah, come on. He's probably just tense – as sick of the rain as you are."

"Maybe."

"Anyway, he's gone out again, him and – and Mew –"

"What?"

"Oh, come on, you don't think Mew's going after him, do you? She may be a bit flirty but she wouldn't deliberately steal someone else's guy."

"Wouldn't she?" Gum remembered how Mew had smiled at Beat as they walked. A sweet smile. A kind smile. The smile of someone who never said anything cruel about anyone. 

Beat liked girls like that.

"If you don't mind," she said, "I'd like to be alone. I'm sorry about your guy."

Cube shrugged. "I'll get over it."

She walked out of the room, and kicked the pinball machine. 

Leaning back, Gum closed her eyes.

"Hey, Gum, I'm going out, okay?" Cube's voice echoed in her tired mind. "The others should be back soon."

"Sure."

She heard footsteps, the door opening and shutting again, silence. Alone. 

_That's what you're going to be for a long time…_

"He does love me," Gum said. "He does, I'm sure he does. Doesn't he?"

She closed her eyes and tried to sleep again.

"Oh, man!"

Gum sat up as Garam's voice rang out from the main room.

"What is it?" she called.

"We've been flooded."

Gum got up and walked out into the main room, which was now a few inches deep in water that rippled around her skates.

"Great." Beat had come in after Garam. "Just great."

As he opened the door, more water started pooling in. 

"What are we gonna do?" Cube stared at the flood. 

"We can't stay here," Mew said. "It's gross – and it's cold!"

"Well, what can we do?" Gum said. "Find a new place?"

"That might be the best idea," Beat said. "There's an old house I know near Center Street. It probably won't have been flooded. And as far as I know, no one's taken it."

"I guess that'll do." Mew sighed. "We pick up our stuff, then?"

"As much as we can carry."

The GGs walked in single file up Center Street and finally reached the building Beat had mentioned.

"Well?" he said. "What do you think?"

"Umm…" Mew bit her lip. "Well…"

"It's a dump," Cube said.

Gum glanced over the house. It was a low building, with several boarded-up windows. The rain spattered the rotting walls.

"Look," Beat said. "It's either this, or we all go home and play Noah. Now come on."

"You did lock the garage, right?" Gum said as Beat pushed open the house door.

"Yes. No. Yes. No, I remember, I did. And I got a padlock for this place."

They stepped inside. 

"I reiterate my earlier opinion," Cube said, coughing in the dust. "It's a dump."

Beat glared at her. "Okay, people, let's set up home." 

The GGs crowded inside as the rain pounded against the windows.

The house was four-roomed, two-storied, and dark.

Gum stood in the rusting kitchen, leaning against the pinball machine, which Combo had dumped next to a dead fridge. On the wall there was a mouldering picture of a vase of flowers, a glass case containing an axe with _In Case Of Fire _written above it, several damp stains, and an empty plate rack.

"Man, it's hardly the Ritz," she muttered, listening to the thumps around her as the GGs settled in. She could see through the open door Yo-Yo attempting to juggle several cans of spray paint, Tab looking for Potts, and Combo working on reanimating the TV.

"Hey, Gum, move it, the master of pinball is coming through!" Slate dashed towards the pinball machine, Cube following. "Cube here thinks she can beat me."

"You know I can. Admit it."

Gum stepped out of the way and Slate and Cube, glaring at each other, took possession of the pinball machine. Sighing, Gum headed back into the other room.

"Where are the others?" she said.

"Piranha and Garam went upstairs…" Yo-Yo sniggered. "Dunno where Beat and Mew are."

Beat and Mew. 

Gum's throat tightened. Their names sounded good together. 

Beat and Mew.

She dashed towards the stairs, stumbled up them, dust clouds rising as her skates struck the wood. As she reached the top she was confronted by two doors. She wrenched at one, and Garam yelled, "Hey, give a guy some privacy!"

Gum slammed the door shut, and turned to face the other one. Her hand was shaking.

Don't open it, her mind said. Walk away. That way you won't find anything out. 

She heard someone giggle in the other room, and rage roared up inside her. Don't you _dare_ laugh at me!

She wrenched at the door, slammed it back against the wall.

Up until that minute she'd still been thinking that maybe it'd be okay.

Now she knew it wasn't.

Beat and Mew sprang apart. 

Beat's shirt was off. Mew's dress was crumpled around her waist.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Beat snapped.

Gum stared at them, unable to move.

"Gum, I'm really sorry," Mew said. She pulled her dress back up, smoothed her hair, smiled. "But – look – I'm afraid – well, he and I, we just –"

Maybe I won't ever be able to move, part of Gum's mind thought. Maybe I'll just stay frozen in this doorway forever.

"Gum?" Mew said. "Are you okay?"

_"Of course I'm not okay, you fucking whore!"_

Wow, someone's mad, Gum thought.

"Gum, quit it!" Beat stood up, pulling on his T-shirt. "Look, I'm sorry, but it's over. It – is – over. It has been for a long time."

This can't be happening, Gum thought. It just can't be. I'll wake up, and this will all have been a dream. 

Oh, don't be so stupid. It's obvious this is real.

"Beat?" she said. Her voice sounded so small.

"I'm sorry." Beat looked away from her. "Come on, Mew."

He and Mew sidled past her. As they reached the stairs, Mew turned back and gave Gum a small, ashamed smile.

And the fury snapped.

Red blazing in front of her eyes, Gum rushed forward, aching all over with rage. Mew's hair was smooth in her fingers as she pulled at it, she heard the other GG shriek, hit out at those pretty eyes and that sweet smile and those petite cheekbones, felt someone grab her arm, shouting echoed in her ears, then suddenly her collar tightened round her neck and she was lifted off the ground.

Mew was crouched on the step, sobbing, blood pulsing from the scratches on her face. Gum twisted round to see that Combo was holding her by the back of her dress, and that the other GGs were clustering at the bottom of the stairs. Only Garam and Piranha were still absent.

"You bitch!" Beat shouted. "Why can't you just leave us alone? Why can't you just let us be happy?"

"Hey, lay off her!" Tab yelled, pushing his way through the crowd. "You're the one who was two-timing her!"

"You keep your nose out of this!" Beat retorted. "Just stop it, Gum. Just stop it!"

"Why should I?" Gum yelled. "You cheated on me!"

"I was going to tell you," Beat said. "Honest. I didn't mean for you to find out that way –"

"Then how did you?" Gum said as Combo put her down. "You were gonna send a photo or something?"

Beat stared at the ground. "I'm sorry."

He helped Mew to her feet. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, still crying a little.

"Come on," Beat said. "Let's go for a walk."

Gum stared at them as they made their way down the steps, holding hands. Her throat ached with misery and fury.

"Gum?" Tab was looking at her. "Are you okay?"

The others were staring up at her as well. 

She opened her mouth to try and speak, and felt her lip begin to tremble. Knowing she was about to really burst into tears, she turned and ran. Not into the bedroom Beat and Mew had just vacated, but towards the ladder she could see at the end of the corridor. She dashed up it, and through the trapdoor into the attic.

This area was only about three foot high, and covered in dust, but she didn't care. Slamming the trapdoor shut, she let the darkness flow in, and cried and cried and cried.

Gum watched Botan's face as she finished speaking.

"Sorry," she said. "I guess this is all sounding like some dumb romance story."

"No, don't worry 'bout it. I'm still listening."

The rain knocked on the window, and Gum shivered.

"Okay," she said. "I haven't got to the important bit yet."

"Just get on with it, okay?"

So she did.

(I hope you enjoyed that…please r+r!)


	2. 2

Chapter 02

(I only own Botan, no one else. Please r+r!)

"I was up in that attic," Gum said. "I was crying my eyes out. Don't give me a hard time, Botan, seeing them together got to me."

"I'm not. Don't get mad."

"Okay. Anyway…I think I must have dozed off…"

"Beat's dead," someone was calling. "Goji killed him."

She sat up, looking round at the Rokkaku Tower. "No. No, he can't be."

"Don't worry about it," Mew said. "He's two-timing you with me, you're going to find out soon."

She tried to hit out, but Mew faded like smoke, laughing. "You can't get me, can't get me…"

"Shut up!" Gum screamed. "Leave me alone!"

The other GGs watching her.

"He's going to get you now," Tab called. "You've got to hide."

"Who?" she asked. "Goji or Beat?"

"Just come on."

He took her hand and ran down the stairs. 

The garage was flooded. Icy water rose to her waist, then to her throat, then covered her face. The world turned blue. She smashed out at it, and it shattered like glass. 

"Help me," she called. She was alone. "Help me!"

Darkness. 

She struggled to see, but her vision was gone. Her heart thumped in her ears, suffocating her as she reached out, ripped at the blackness. 

A sudden sharp pain in her hand – she yelped, felt warm liquid run down her palm.

Then suddenly the lights blazed on, white, immobilising her in their icy stare. 

She was in the kitchen of the house. The pinball machine crouched next to her. 

There was blood on her glove. 

And the glass case containing the axe had been smashed, and the axe was gone.

"It's not real…" she whispered.

She looked round the room, and saw, lying at her feet –

Someone had had the axe all right. Someone had taken it. Someone had used it to hack through ribs and spine, pierce lungs, shatter limbs. Someone had been angry. Someone had been furious.

The body was too bloodstained to be recognisable. She dropped down next to it, tried to see who it was. She had to identify it. That was important.

They'd struck at the face several times, so no clues there.

This couldn't be real. This was her dream again. Had to be.

She pinched herself. Her nails hurt her.

No.

Blood was everywhere. It had soaked into the clothes, the remains of the hair, the skates…

She pressed a hand to her mouth. Oh no. Skates.

Someone she knew?

Not a Noise Tank – whatever the body had been wearing, it wasn't one of those uniforms. Too thin to be a Poison Jammer – and it had been a female as well. The hair, although bloodstained and clumped, was not spiked, and the parts that could be seen were dark. So not a Love Shocker either.

She retched a little as the stink of the blood gripped her throat, and tried to think straight. Look at the clothes, you fool, she told herself, just look, don't pretend you can't work it out.

As soon as she started doing that she realised who it was.

And she screamed.

Running footsteps, and the GGs rushed into the kitchen.

Gum stared at them. Yes, she was right. All were there except one.

"What's happened?" Tab yelled. "Gum, are you all right?"

"I – I –" Gum swallowed. She couldn't think what to say. "I think I sleepwalked or something…what time is it?"

"It's one a.m," Cube said. She wrapped her white arms round herself, shivering in the black T-shirt she wore in bed. 

"Gum," Beat said. "Who – who is that?"

Gum looked up at him, and couldn't speak.

"Oh, man," Garam said. 

"Where's the axe?" Piranha stammered. 

"Gum," Slate said. "What the hell happened? You finally freaked?"

"What, you think I did this?" Gum felt her hands shaking.

"Well, it is kinda obvious." Yo-Yo had gone pale. "You've got the motive."

"Hey, come on," Combo said. "Let's just all keep calm."

"It's Mew, isn't it," Beat said, voice flat.

"I think so." Gum wished she could wake up. The world had changed, and it didn't like her.

"You little cow," Beat said, his own face paling now. "You just couldn't bear to let her win, could you? You just freaked and – and you killed her, you've done – done that –"

"I didn't!" Gum yelled. "I didn't!"

"Then who did?" Beat shouted back at her. "Santa Claus?"

Gum saw the hatred in his face, and her surroundings started rocking on their orbit. She hadn't done it, she hadn't, she hadn't, she hadn't…the smell of the blood filled her nose and mouth, red stained her glove and the hem of her skirt – 

She ran over to the sink, and was sick.

"Stop it," Tab said to Beat. "She ain't done it. Let's just check the door, shall we? See if any uninvited guests could have got in."

"Fine." 

Gum heard the other GGs move over to the door. She leant over the sink, wishing she was dead. Then she felt Tab's hand on her arm.

"It's okay," he said. "I know you didn't do it."

"Thanks." Taking deep, slow breaths, Gum turned on the rusty tap to clean out the sink. "I – I'm fine."

"I don't believe it," Piranha said from across the room. "Someone's broken in, they have to have done."

"What?" Tab called.

"The door's padlocked," Beat said. "I remember locking it before I went to sleep. And we're the only ones who know the code."

"But that would mean…" Piranha laughed, nervously.

"Exactly. That would mean one of the GGs is a murderer."

Gum turned to face them. Piranha, Garam, Tab, Combo and Cube just looked worried, but Beat, Slate and Yo-Yo were glaring at her.

"I didn't do it," she said. "I didn't."

"Yeah," Cube said. "If she says she didn't I believe her."

"Oh, really?" Slate snapped. "How come she's the only one with a motive, then?"

"I didn't do it." If I keep saying it, Gum thought, they'll have to believe me. 

"I don't mean to freak everyone out," Piranha said. "But are we sure no one broke into the house another way?"

There was a nervous silence. 

"I really wish you hadn't said that," Tab said at last.

"We'll have to go look," Beat said. 

"Um. Yes." Tab glanced at the darkened doorway, and swallowed. "Let's all go together."

"Check in here first," Cube said. 

The GGs crept round the kitchen. The search didn't take long.

"Right," Beat said. "No one in here."

"What if when we go out someone sneaks in and lurks in here?" Piranha said. 

"And I really wish you hadn't said _that," _Tab said.

"We go out, and close the door," Beat said. "Then, we search the next room. Then some of us stay down here while the rest check upstairs."

"No one knows where the axe is, do they?" Piranha said.

Tab glared at her.

The other room contained nothing but a radio, a fireplace, one speaker, and some moth-eaten mattresses. 

There was no one in there. 

"Okay." Beat drew a breath. "Slate, Cube, Combo, Yo-Yo, you stay down here. The rest of us will go upstairs."

Gum followed Tab as he, Beat, Garam and Piranha crept up the steps. Each one groaned under their feet. 

It was so dark.

Was someone watching them?

"Man, why does this place have to be so creaky?" Tab muttered.

"And black," Piranha said from in front.

"And shadowy," Garam said.

"Please, just shut up," Beat said. 

They'd reached the top now. The darkness was thick and Gum couldn't see a thing. She could hear the other GGs breathing around her, cars outside, a click as Beat threw open the bedroom door…

Was that a footstep on the stairs behind her?

She felt frozen, couldn't turn to look. It's not a footstep, it's just the step creaking…please please please…

There was a click, and torchlight burnt a hole in the darkness.

"Just remembered I had this," Tab said. 

Gum looked around. She and Tab were standing alone on the stairs. 

Beat stuck his head out of the door, and called, "No one in here!" 

The three GGs crept across the landing and into the other bedroom. Gum watched, heart pounding. This seemed like a game. Murder In The Dark. Except it was real murder. Or maybe it was all a dream. She wanted Mew alive again. She hated the bitch, but she just wanted to wake up and see her smiling and annoying and not, not dead…

"No one here." Piranha, Garam and Beat clattered out of the room. "Now…now we've just got the attic."

All five of them turned to face the ladder.

"I don't want to go up there," Tab said, voicing Gum's thoughts.

"Well, we've got to sooner or later," Piranha said.

"If we do, and there _is _someone up there, he'd be able to chop us in two as soon as we poked our heads through the trapdoor." Garam grinned as the others glared at him.

"Well, what do we do?" Beat said. 

"We could lock the trapdoor," Tab said.

"No, we couldn't. _If _there's someone up there, they have the axe, and they can chop through the door," Piranha said.

"I know," Beat snapped. "Gum can go up. I mean, she should know whether there's a murderer in this house."

"Shut up," Tab said. "Just leave her alone."

"She's ruined my life," Beat said, his voice catching in his throat. "Let her take the consequences."

_"I'll_ go if it means that much to you," Tab said. "If I fall back bleeding, run."

He handed the torch to Garam, walked towards the ladder, and started to climb, each skated foot raising clouds of dust. 

"Tab, come back down." Gum wondered if anyone was listening to them, above them, waiting…she bit down on the thought and carried on speaking. "Please. I don't want you to get sliced."

"I won't get sliced, Gum." Tab had reached the top of the ladder. He reached out to open it. 

Time slowed. 

The hinges creaked as Tab pushed up the trapdoor. The torchbeam glinted on Garam and Beat's goggles, in the light of Piranha's eyes. 

Gum could hear the blood moving round her body, feel the air catching in her lungs. 

The house muttered around her. 

Tab stood up, his upper body disappearing into the attic.

They waited. 

And then he spoke.

"All clear here, guys!"

Gum let out her breath, but it stuck in her throat as she saw Beat glare at her. 

"Great," he said. "Looks like it's one of us GGs after all."

Nine rudies congregated in the downstairs room. 

"What do we do now?" Piranha said. "Surely it can't be one of us. It can't be. We're – we're friends."

"I don't like it any more than you do," Tab said. "But it looks pretty bad."

"But who'd do that?" Slate said. "You telling me someone's a secret psycho?"

"We have motives," Cube said, face hidden in the darkness. 

"Oh, yeah?" Tab said. "Like what?"

"Mew dumped Slate a few days ago," Cube said. "She was pretty mean to you, Yo-Yo. Gum, she's completely screwed you over…"

"What exactly you saying?" Slate snapped. "I loved the girl, okay? I wouldn't start carving her up!"

"Nor me," Yo-Yo said. "Who the hell do you think I am?"

"I don't know," Cube said. "I'm just thinking that someone must have killed her. And I'm just hypothesising as to who."

"Well, if it's only Slate, Yo-Yo, or Gum –" Garam began.

"It mightn't be just them," Cube said. "Beat, you might feel worse than you act about what she did to Gum. Tab, she did a pretty good job of breaking up your friendship with Beat. Combo, you –"

"You say, you die." The torchlight glinted on Combo's face, picking out his narrowed eyes.

"Say what?" Beat said. "Someone killed her. Was it you?"

"No, it damn well wasn't. I don't go round doing that sort of stuff."

"Then what do we do?" Piranha said. "We could spend all night accusing each other and just get everyone mad. Maybe – maybe we should get some help from someone else."

"Like who?" Beat snapped. "The Keisatsu? They won't care about a dead rudie. They never do. We find the killer ourselves. That's the only choice."

"And if we don't?" Piranha said. "Maybe this will be only a one-off."

"I don't think so," Tab said. "Once someone's flipped, it's a lot easier for 'em to do it again."

"I don't want to be here," Cube said. "I really don't."

"Let's run through what happened," Tab said. "Come on. Let's not get jumpy. Gum, tell us again what you did."

"I ran up to the attic," Gum said. "I think I fell asleep, and I was dreaming. I ran down some stairs, I smashed through some water, and then it all went dark…I reached out and I think I cut my hand on the glass case…and then the lights came on…and I looked down and saw her and then I screamed…"

"The lights came on?" Cube said. "You mean, you put them on?"

"No, they came on by themselves."

"Sure they did," Beat snapped.

"And everyone else was asleep?" Tab said.

The others nodded.

"You all got woken up when Gum screamed?"

More nods. 

"Then who put on the lights?"

There was a silence, and the house suddenly seemed full of noise.

"We checked," Garam said. "We checked the house. There's no one here, is there?"

"If this was a movie, someone would say, 'that's what you think, rudies!' and then make us into shish kebab."

"Piranha, shut up."

"Look," Cube said. "It's obvious. Someone is lying. Someone watched as Mew went into the kitchen, followed her, killed her, saw Gum come downstairs, flicked on the lights to freak her out, then dashed back to bed and came running in when she screamed."

"You seem to know a lot about it," Yo-Yo said. 

Cube sneered at him.

"Yeah," Beat said. "Yeah, that would make sense. Assuming, of course, that the murderer was someone in the next room, and not the one who discovered the body."

"Will you lay off her!" Tab clenched his fists.

"Look at the facts," Beat said. "She runs off, real mad at Mew, stays up there, comes downstairs, notices Mew, freaks, kills her. She mightn't remember doing it. You said you dreamt coming downstairs, didn't you?" he said to Gum. "And smashing something. Something that could have been that case. You cut your hand on it. Your subconscious mind's telling you you're guilty."

"Shut up." Gum closed her eyes. "Just shut up. I didn't do it, I didn't."

"Pretty good on denial, aren't you?"

Gum slapped him, and before she could move he'd slapped her back. They stood there, staring at each other. Gum could feel tears rising. Beat's shoulders rose and fell, and pain mingled with the handprint she'd left on his face.

"Guys, please," Cube said. "Let's just say what happened. Beat, after you came back from the walk with Mew, what did you do?"

"We…we hung out, I guess. We were talking about…what had happened. And then we both went to sleep, we weren't…you know, she was just sleeping close…I dozed off, and then Gum screaming woke me up, and Mew was gone…" He swallowed.

"So sounds like she got up of her own accord," Tab said. "To get a drink or something?"

"I guess so." Beat sighed. 

"So Mew got up to go to the kitchen for some reason," Tab said. "Someone saw her go. Someone followed her." 

"Smashed the glass case. Grabbed the axe. Did the deed." Cube's eyes narrowed. "Then what? How come none of us heard anything? How come Mew didn't cry out? How come the axe has disappeared?"

"Yeah, that puts a crimp in Gum being it," Tab said. "If she came down and did it, she only had a few minutes before the rest of us came in, and the axe wasn't in the kitchen."

"No," Beat said. "She could have come down earlier, killed her then, hidden the axe someplace else, come down again, screamed."

"That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!" Tab retorted.

"Why're you so desperate to prove her innocence?" Beat yelled.

"Because I'm her friend! Something I think you forgot!"

"Yeah, like I'm her friend." Beat's voice shook. "She's nothing but a, a psychotic, murdering bitch!"

Tab's fist flew out. Beat dropped back, clutching his face. Gum saw the other GGs' eyes widen, faces white in the darkness.

"Stop it," she said. "Just stop it. Fine. I am a murdering bitch. I did it, okay. If that's what you want to hear then I'll say it. You don't listen when I say I'm innocent. Maybe you'll listen when I say I'm guilty."

"Yeah, I will." Beat took off his goggles, and rubbed his eye, which was starting to blacken. "I'll listen 'cos it's the truth."

Gum closed her eyes, shivered. In her brain she was screaming I didn't do it, but she kept her mouth shut. She was cold, and she was lonely.

Gentle hands on her arms, warming her, keeping her safe. "I won't listen," Tab said. "I know you wouldn't do something like that. Just ignore him."

"Deluded," Beat said.

"Will you all of you shut up!" Cube snapped. "You know these days we have something called being innocent until proven, get this, _proven, _guilty. And there's no proof so far."

Beat looked like he wanted to say something, but Cube glared at him and he went silent.

"So no one's got an alibi, have they?" Tab said at last. "I mean, if we were all asleep."

"No one saw anything?" Beat said. "Anything at all?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"So what you're saying is, you all were asleep until Gum screamed."

Nods.

"Except Gum herself, obviously."

"You didn't see anything?" Tab asked Gum.

"I told you. I was sleepwalking."

"Well let's all get some sleep, okay?" Cube said. "We can't do anything more tonight."

"Yeah, let's sleep and let the murderer come and chop us into bite-sized lumps," Piranha said.

"We'll all stay in here," Cube said. "And keep an ear open."

"What about Mew?" Beat asked, his voice strained.

"We can't do anything for her tonight." Cube spoke gently. "We really can't. Tomorrow we can give her the burial she deserves."

"So we're just going to sleep and leave her, is that it?"

"Well, what else can we do?" Cube snapped.

He didn't answer her, just walked over to the far wall, sat down, leant against it. Gum watched him as the GGs prepared to go back to bed. He didn't move. His eyes were closed.

She walked over to him.

"Beat? I'm sorry…"

He moved so quickly she didn't remember seeing it, only noticed that suddenly he was gripping her wrist, forcing the blood down her arm, numbing her fingers. 

"You're going to be sorry," he hissed. "You did it, you just couldn't bear to lose, you killed her and I hate you, I hate you."

"I didn't…" She stopped. 

"Yeah, go on, say it," Beat whispered, still clutching her wrist. "You didn't do it. Well, Tab may believe you, but I don't, and as soon as I prove it, you're out of this gang and I never want to see you again."

"Why don't you believe me?" She felt like the floor had been pulled out from under her. Now she was really thinking this was a dream. This couldn't be happening. Axe murderer, well, maybe, but him telling her all this – no. No way. Please, no way. 

"I know you. You lose your temper so easily, don't you? Always have. You hit out at her. Then later you decided that wasn't enough, and you took the axe and you hit out at her again. And this time you succeeded. Well, congratulations, Gum-chan. You've got rid of her. I hope you're satisfied. Oh, and don't even think about denying it again."

Gum didn't remember walking away from him. She only knew that suddenly she was sitting back against theopposite wall, feeling like someone had ripped her in half.

_You lose your temper so easily, don't you?…I hope you're satisfied…you hit out at her…_

I didn't do it. If she held onto that, she'd be okay. It was like a rock in the pounding rapids of her mind, stopping her from plunging below the water and drowning.

But she couldn't keep saying that all the time.

She closed her eyes, tried to sleep. But it was impossible to stop her mind from running the events past her eyes…Beat and Mew together, their bare skin touching…everyone staring…Mew weeping, bleeding, the last time Gum had seen her alive…herself sobbing in the attic, crying till her head ached…the lights catching her, freezing her in transparent white…Mew, lying there…Mew dead…

The floorboards creaked again, and her eyelids sprang open.

Nobody there. Around the GGs were slumped, the air heavy with their breathing. 

She closed her eyes again, tried to block out the memories. 

It was so cold in here.

She glanced at her watch. 2:01. At least another four hours of this. Why couldn't she sleep? Sleep would be good, she could forget everything, go off-duty for a few hours.

Maybe she'd never wake up again.

Coldness rippled through her body. 

She must have slept, for she dreamt in the end. 

She sat, watching the scene play out like a movie. 

A group of kids, nine and ten years old, clustered together in the playground. The camera zooms in on two of them, a pretty, petite girl with long black hair, and a tall, gangly blonde girl. 

Now turn up the sound a bit.

"Crazy! Crazy! Crazy!"

All the kids shout it. The dark-haired girl walks right up to the blonde one. Gum remembered she'd smelt of sharp perfume, pencil shavings, strawberry talcum powder. Her name had been – was – Nara.

"You're crazy, Hokusai Gen," the girl says. "Everyone knows it."

Gum remembered how the girl's face had blurred, like in a heat haze. How her own hands had ached – literally – to hurt. How she'd reached out, grabbed that long black hair, tried to rip it off that neat little silhouette. It had felt smooth in her fingers. Tangled round them. Fun to stroke, like a doll. But she hadn't stroked.

The blonde girl drags the girl to the floor by her hair, and the other kids stop shouting, worried, and the blonde girl kicks out at the dark-haired one with her scuffed shoes.

Shrieks echo, there's blood on the asphalt, someone's calling for help, no one's moving except the blonde girl, who looks almost like she's dancing. 

A crunch.

Teacher marching in, grabbing the blonde girl, dragging her away. The other girl struggles to stand. Blood pours down her face, staining her school blouse, her white socks, her patent shoes, the sort which always smell new.

Then she faints.

She looks like a broken doll, a Barbie whom someone has ripped the eyes from, a magazine photo scribbled on with permanent red. 

The camera turns from her, follows the other girl, who's been dragged into the building. She's sitting on a chair while the teacher calls her parents.

The chair had been soft, too low, sticky against the backs of her legs. Kids walking past look at her curiously.

The teacher puts down the phone, turns to the blonde girl.

"You aren't coming back here," she says. "You lose your temper and you don't care who you hurt, do you?"

She gets out the register, takes her pen, finds the girl's name, and slices through it so hard that the paper almost rips. Her hands are shaking.

"Get out," she says. "Your parents say you can walk home. Get out."

The girl gets up, is looking around, eyes big and frightened. 

And now the camera cuts to the girl arriving home, she knocks on the door, and walks in, and – 

Suddenly the film cuts out, like someone's censored the last few minutes.

Gum sat up, shivering.

She looked at her watch. 6:30. Thank god. Grey light was sliding in around the cracks between the boards over the windows.

She pressed a hand to her aching head, trying to cool herself down, and against her forehead she felt the scar that ran down her right index finger. It was so faint you'd only know it was there if you were looking for it.

Because that's what you get for losing your temper, her mother had said as she sobbed.

Why? All it had done was given her even more hatred. She could feel it moving softly behind her ribs, like a huge lake. Eau de Hate. Buy it and have the time of your life. 

She imagined being cut open, chopped through the chest. It would flow out, not blood, but this stuff, black, burning when you touched it, choking when you breathed it in. Run down her torso, stain her, mark the floor with spots you could never scrub off, burn her soft lungs and heart and stomach…

Stop it. Look at the light instead.

Gum lay on her back, stared up at the damp, blotchy ceiling. She could still hear breathing all around her.

Was everyone still alive?

She sat up, looked round, counted off the other GGs in her mind. She caught herself wondering where Mew was, then shivered.

She got to her feet, and saw Combo heading towards the kitchen. She figured he must be going to deal with Mew. No, not Mew. The body. Don't say Mew. It's not her any more. 

The others were still asleep. Gum crept towards the kitchen, and saw Combo unpadlock the front door, glance out, then turn back to Mew.

Someone had covered her with a sheet last night. In a way that made it worse. The sight of the blood staining it sent a clear message something was very, very wrong.

Combo dropped down next to Mew – to the body, Gum told herself. She wanted to step back, but couldn't seem to make the effort to do so. 

"I guess this is it," Combo said. "Never thought you'd end like that, babe. Hey, I always saw ya on a stage someplace."

Gum swallowed, and tried not to make a sound. This was eavesdropping, pure and simple. She knew she should walk away. But somehow she didn't want to…she wanted to see that someone else was hurt…"Cube almost gave me away last night," Combo continued. "You wouldn't have liked that, right? Well, don't worry. I told her to keep quiet about it."

There was a pause. 

"So, this is goodbye."

He swallowed. "Wish I didn't have to do this. Wish someone else could take care of it all. But hey, I'm the only one strong enough, right? I'm real sorry."

He sighed, bent to pick her up. "Well, see ya, sis."

Gum drew back as Combo walked out the front door, Mew in his arms. What did he mean, Cube had almost given him away? What was he hiding? What did they know? What had they done? Her mind began to run, trying to keep up with her panic. Someone had killed Mew. Someone had…someone had…

Stop it, she told herself. You know someone has. You idiot, there's no way you'll come through this if you panic. Breathe. 

She turned away from the kitchen, saw the GGs beginning to wake up. It was almost funny; on everyone's faces was a sequence of expressions, starting with mmm-lovely-lie-in, passing through what-exactly-happened-last-night and then juddering to a halt at oh-my-god-I-remember.

"Where's Combo?" Cube asked, and instead of the curiosity that normally hung with such a question there was fear.

"It's okay," Gum said. "He's, you know, he's…" 

She couldn't say it. Beat's eyes were burning into her from across the room. She settled for pointing at the kitchen.

"We going out tagging today?" Yo-Yo said at last.

"No." Beat didn't look as though he could ever have been mild-mannered. "No. I'm not letting the bastard who did this get away."

He looked straight at Gum. She met his stare, clutching onto the phrase – I didn't do it – with the white-knuckled fingers of her mind. Eventually Beat looked away from her.

"Then what do we do?" Piranha said. "Stay in here and snap at each other?"

"We've got to find the killer, though." Cube sat up. "Beat's right, if we go out they might seize the opportunity to hop on a bus to…well, anywhere that ain't here."

"Funny, I thought we'd already found the murderer," Slate said. 

No, not you too, Gum wanted to cry. But she didn't. She fixed her face in a glare, and said, "What exactly are you saying, punk?"

Slate shrugged. "Well, go on then, honey. Prove it weren't you. Prove who it was. I'd sure like to know the answer."

"Fine, I will." 

"Like hell you will," Beat snapped. "Unless you frame some other poor sap."

It shouldn't hurt, Gum told herself as misery spread through her mind. But it did. All at once she was sick of the situation. She turned and marched off up the stairs, trying to move slowly, trying to show she wasn't scared.

She opened the door of the bedroom and walked in. It was only when she'd closed it that she realised it was the one Beat and Mew had been caught in the day before.

But she couldn't walk out, change rooms. Then they'd all know she was affected. 

She sat down on the bed. There was a crumpled blanket tucked over it, a dry reddish-brown, striped with white. Gum poked her finger through a hole in it, and tried to think what to do next.

Tried to.

_They lay here, on this blanket, on this bed…_

Her heart quickened.

_He was touching her, he let her touch him, he…_

Don't listen. Slate's challenged you, you've got to prove you didn't do it or you're in real shit. Think, damn you. Think!

But she could almost see them, lying here, shimmering, Mew's smile lost forever now but shining there as she watched him love her…

What were you going to do with him? Gum taunted in her mind. Let him go all the way with you? Lie back and make him fuck you to kingdom come? 

She picked up the blanket, started to tear at the holes, making them bigger and bigger.

You whore. You slut. You tart. You nymphomaniac. She ticked the names off in her mind, but they didn't seem to do anything. No matter how hard she tried, Mew had had Beat, and she hadn't. 

She'd never actually had sex with him. They'd come close, but never actual technical sex. Was that because he was seeing Mew all along? Was it all a joke? A sham?

With a ripping sound, a long strand was torn off the edge of the blanket.

_Great. Destroying things again…_

Suddenly the door opened, and Tab came in. "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Well, don't start ripping up the furniture, we need that stuff." He came to sit next to her. "Although the colours on that suck, so maybe you should keep going postal on it."

"What are you doing here?" Gum smiled despite herself.

"Oh, yeah. Ahem. I am here, madam, because I wish to offer my services to your detective agency."

"Huh?"

"Seriously. You have to find the killer or they all blame you, right?"

"That's about it."

"And two heads are better than one, right?"

"You're offering to help me?"

"She finally gets it!" Tab said. "I'm getting tired of them all laying into you. I'm going against the tide. And I know you didn't do it."

"You think?"

"I said, I know. You got a temper, but you ain't gonna go carving people up like that."

"You're saying that? Even though you know what happened at – at school?"

"I was there, doofus, remember? They'd been picking on you for weeks. I ain't saying it was the best way of handling the situation, but you were totally provoked."

Gum felt like suddenly she could breathe again. Someone trusted her.

"So," Tab said. "Any ideas?"

"About who it is? Not really. There's motives, but…"

"What motives?"

"Basically what we already know. She dumped Slate. She rejected Yo-Yo. She helped Beat cheat on me. Combo's hiding something. I don't believe Beat killed her because of me, though. Well, if he did, he should be receiving an Oscar."

"What about Cube, Garam and Piranha?" Tab said.

Gum shrugged. "I don't know anything about them. And there's you, of course."

"You think I did it?" Tab didn't sound angry. Just very calm.

"No, of course not! It's just we can't cut you out automatically."

"Sure. I know. Well, we could start by trying to find the weapon." 

"Where do you find a dirty great axe, you mean?" Gum tried to speak normally, but the thought of someone with a dirty great axe – still with bloodstains on – made her voice shake.

"Well, either they got up during the night and dumped it someplace outside, or it's still in the house. You know, I think we should send them out. Everyone'll go nuts if they have to stay in here."

"Beat's the leader. Have a word with him."

"I don't think he's too pleased with either of us at the moment." Tab sighed. "Man, I guess he's hurting, but…"

"He won't listen to us," Gum said. "He'll accuse us of having both done it, or of you trying to cover up for me."

"Well, we can't stay in here forever. And someone needs to check if the garage has dried out yet."

"Let's go put it to them." Gum got to her feet and followed Tab out of the room.

The GGs were still clustered in the main room, looking like they were slowly turning to stone.

"Come on, guys, go for some fresh air," Tab said. "Look, if everyone goes with a partner no one should be able to run off, right? Or better yet, in threes."

"Why'd you want us out of here?" Slate asked.

"Because we need to search the premises," Tab said. "And besides, you'll all get too tense otherwise."

"I guess you're right," Piranha said. 

"Fine," Beat snapped. "Piranha, Slate, Combo, you hit Kogane-cho. Yo-Yo, Cube, you go to Benten. Me and Garam'll do Shibuya. And you two can stay behind and do whatever you need to."

The GGs picked up their spray paint and began to leave. Gum watched them, seeing how they kept glancing at her and Tab. A ball of steamy anger started to collect between her ribs.

"Cool it," Tab hissed. 

As the last GG, Piranha, shut the door behind her, he laughed. "At last ve are alone, my pretty."

"Oh, stop it." Gum giggled. "This is a dangerous situation. If either of us have trusted the wrong person…"

"I know. Well, I'm hoping my gamble will have paid off. Now, let's start looking."

"It's not like there's much to find," Gum said.

"Let's just look, okay?"

Gum shrugged, and began searching. There was nothing under the radio, or the speakers, so she turned her attention to the mattresses.

As she worked, she wondered if the killer could be Tab. But no. He was her friend. He was her only friend at the moment. 

Hypothetically, though…

She tried to picture him taking an axe, chopping down through bone and muscle. It didn't focus properly. But then, pictures of any of the GGs doing that didn't work right. 

She turned to glance at him. He was searching under one of the other mattresses, looking as goofy and calm and Tab-like as he always did. There was something reassuring, something safe, about it. Her world had been slammed in the stomach, but at least some things hadn't changed. 

But he could still be it, she reminded herself. You don't know that he isn't.

"Hey, Gum, you found anything?"

Gum remembered what she was supposed to be doing. "No." She reached into the hole in the mattress, scraped around in the stuffing. It was greasy and flaked under her fingers.

"The thing is," she said as she pulled out clumps of the stuffing, "Slate and Yo-Yo both are the most likely suspects, apart from me. They'll know they may be under suspicion. And they're not going to confess, are they?"

"You saying we should see if we could make them confess?"

"Yeah. Turn up the pressure, maybe." 

"But if they are it, they'll be prepared for that," Tab said.

"If they're not, though…" Gum said. "Not prepared, I mean. This is a crime of passion, right? We're assuming if it was either of them they were so angry at her rejecting them they just hit out…" She stopped. The phrase sounded uncannily familiar.

"But they'd be horrified, after." Tab looked at her. "Yeah, they'd not be happy about it. We're assuming this ain't premediated, so they wouldn't have prepared themselves for doing it."

"But if it's not them…both of them think it's me."

"Maybe I could just talk to 'em," Tab said. "All of the gang, actually. See what they got to say."

"They won't listen to you. They think you're on the murderer's side."

"Well, they're dead wrong about that, aren't they? Found anything?"

"Not yet." Gum looked around at the mattress entrails she'd pulled out. "Whose mattress is this, by the way?"

"Uhh…I think it's Cube's."

"You know," Gum said, "most of the useful stuff would be back at the garage. Any letters and that."

"Then let's go."

"You think?"

"Nothing more to be found here."

"They'll talk."

"Let them. Come on."

Gum looked at the dawn light filtering through the damp, rippled window. "I've been talking far too long."

Botan grinned. "Nah, I'm enjoying it. Not every day I get to hear a detective novel read to me."

Gum glowered at him.

"Sorry," he said. "Here, I'll go get us a drink. Then you can carry on."

(Now look, don't you start saying I'm picking on Mew. Okay, she's dead, but she fit the story, she was the only one I could think of motives for. So please no flames, right?)


	3. 3

Chapter 03

(You know, if someone felt like killing Microsoft Word, I wouldn't stop them…okay, yeah, I don't own anyone in this except Botan, and in reply to Lotus…um, well, okay, I don't like Mew that much but I don't hate her, and no, I don't like smacking Beat around. Things just seem to happen to him. And yeah, if anyone thinks they know who the murderer is, feel free to say in your review, I want to know what you think!)

Botan sat down next to Gum and handed her a glass of water.

"Here," he said. "If you get drunk you'll lose the plot."

Gum sipped at the water. It tasted metallic and didn't ease her thirst.

"Where was I?" she asked.

"You and your friend had headed off to your old hideout."

"Oh, yeah. Well, we got there pretty quick…"

It wasn't raining at the moment, but the street was damp and shiny.

The garage looked much darker and smaller than Gum remembered it. The tags plastered over the outside weren't as bright as they used to be.

"You've got the key?" she said.

"Uh-huh. Beat gave it to me before all this happened."

He unlocked the door, and they stepped inside.

Gum wrinkled her nose at the sour stench of mouldy water that hit her. The flood had sunk a little, but was still there. The faint light glinted on the ripples that radiated around their skates.

"I hope there's still stuff to find," she said. 

"Let's start looking."

The car sat in an even deeper pool of water that covered the steps down to it. Gum felt icy liquid seep over the top of her skates. She opened the front passenger door and scrabbled around inside the car. 

"Well, we've got one porn magazine," she said. "No…two porn magazines. No…three porn magazines and a Playboy calendar. Well, it tells us who hangs out in this car, but it don't tell us much else."

She put the magazines on the car roof and straightened up. "Any luck?"

"No," Tab called through from the other room. "Wait…"

"What is it?" 

"I got something, but I don't know if we should look at it."

Gum splashed towards the doorway. "Show me."

Tab held out a bundle of letters. They had been roughly tied together with a decayed piece of string. Gum could see singe marks down the edges of some of them.

"They've got no name on them," Tab said. "Nothing."

"Then it's not dishonest to look at them," Gum said. She took them from him and untied the string, then walked over to the sunlight to read them.

They had been scribbled, some in pencil, some pen, smudged, the writing imprinted deep into the page. They weren't addressed to anyone, and were unsigned.

__

You left me. You left me. I hate you, you hear me, I hate you and I don't care who knows it. I'll get you, get you back? Get you, because you don't deserve any better and you know why.

"Nice." Gum handed the letter to Tab, and opened another.

__

I saw you. I saw you today, you figured you'd try again, right? Well, that won't work, because I'll stop you. I don't know how, I don't know when, but you just break it off now. NOW. Or else. I mean it. 

"Any clues to the writer?" Gum said.

"Not a sausage. Can't say I recognise the handwriting…and I found them tucked into the roof of Potts's kennel. Anyone could've put them there."

"Sounds like an old flame who got dumped."

"Does it have any bearing on our little situation, though? So someone's sending someone crazy letters. Mightn't be anything to do with Mew."

"Or it might be that Mew was the one who received them and whoever wrote them was the killer." Gum suddenly noticed how dark the garage was, and her skin grew colder.

"Well, you gonna ask around?"

"Let's just hang onto them for the moment. Found anything else?" 

"Nah. I think we'd better get back."

"I guess so." Gum looked round the garage. "Man, it's hard to believe we could live here, isn't it?"

"It ain't that bad. And this visit hasn't been a total waste of time."

"No. We got the letters."

"Yeah. And I got a great view up your skirt when you bent into that car."

"You –" Gum felt herself blush, and rushed towards Tab, pushing him over into the water.

"Right, you're for it now!" Tab reached her up and dragged her down too. Gum shrieked as the freezing water hit her skin, and splashed him in the face. He splashed her back, scooped up some water in his hands, and threw it down her front. She grabbed him by the boiler suit and shoved him flat on the ground.

"Damn it." Tab looked up at her. "Okay, now please don't kill me."

"Not funny." Gum could feel his heartbeat pattering against her cold fingers. She wanted to smooth the water off his skin, feel his warmth…

She blushed, and leapt to her feet.

"Now look what you've done," Tab said, dripping as he stood up. "Okay, if anyone asks, we slipped, right?"

"Sure. Are the letters okay?" Don't look at him. Don't look at him and maybe you'll stop feeling so weird.

"Yeah. A little smudged is all. No thanks to you." He grinned, and gave her a little push. "Let's get home."

They arrived back at the house as it started to rain again. 

Tab pushed open the door, and then stopped.

"Beat," he said. "What're you doing here?"

"Waiting for you."

Gum swallowed. Beat's voice was dark, uncaring.

"Well, we're here now." Tab's voice sounded ridiculously cheerful in the gloom that was engulfing the garage. "Whassup?"

"Why're you hanging around with her?" Beat said as Gum walked in.

"I have a name," she snapped, wrapping her arms around herself. Her dress was cold and heavy against her skin.

"Don't start this again," Tab snapped. "I told you, I'm sticking to the innocent until proven guilty line. Now go do something rudieish."

"What, because you're too busy playing detective?" Beat snapped. "I think you forgot exactly what's happened. It's not a game. Someone is dead. Someone has been killed. She was here and then she was gone and I don't need you two goofing around like this."

"We're trying to find the killer," Tab said. "We're trying to do some justice."

"You won't find the killer because you won't look at what's in front of your face," Beat said, getting to his feet. "So listen up, _Tabster. _She's out of the gang already –"

"What?" Gum yelled. "You can't do that!"

"I'm not counting her as a GG," Beat said. "She can stay here if she has to, but she's not a GG and that's all there is to it. And if you don't want to end up like her you'll quit this innocence shit and start showing some respect."

"Who? To you? We all have to salute you now?" Tab said.

"To Mew, okay? I know you all think it's a laugh, well, I don't, okay? She's dead and I wish I was too, but I'm not giving blondie here the satisfaction of getting rid of both of us."

"Firstly, we want to help Mew with all this," Tab said, his hands curling into fists. "Secondly, you can't just decide to kick me or Gum out because you think we're guilty. Thirdly, I think you forgot Gum's your friend, and it's you who treated her bad. And fourthly –"

"I'm not friends with her," Beat said. "I'm not one of those saps who says it doesn't matter what people do."

"You were friends with her. You went out with her. You loved her!"

"I never loved her!" Beat yelled. "She was a time filler and that's it! I loved Mew, okay, don't you dare say I didn't! I owe nothing to Gum, because she's nothing to me!"

He marched out of the garage, and slammed the door behind him.

Gum stared at it, unable to move. She felt like her mind had been emptied of all thought. Except one.

_I never loved her…_

"Gum?" Tab sounded worried. "Gum, I'm sorry, don't listen to him, he's just being stupid…"

_I never loved her…_

"I was so dumb," Gum whispered. "I thought he loved me. How the fuck could I have actually believed it?"

_I never loved her…_

"Don't be an idiot," Tab said. "He told you he loved you, why shouldn't you have believed him?"

_I never loved her…_

His voice seemed far away, locked behind a wall of humiliation that made her feel like she was nothing, should be nothing, didn't deserve to be anything more than nothing.

"Leave me alone," she said, hearing her voice wobble. "Just go away and leave me alone."

She heard Tab sigh, and then he left.

She dropped down next to the mattress, and started pushing the stuffing back in that she'd ripped out earlier. Grab it. Shove it in. Rub the dust off your fingers.

Don't think.

At last the room was clean again, and she got up. Soon the other GGs would be back. And she didn't want to see them at the moment.

She stayed out most of the day, lurking around the Kogane factory yard. 

Finally she decided to head home.

She heard voices as she approached the house, and her stomach groaned. They were in there.

She pushed open the door, and the voices stopped.

"So. You're back," Slate said.

"Yeah." She didn't want to talk. The humiliation had transformed into hot, red rage. She wanted to go and break something. Smash a window. Kick the speakers to pieces.

"Then can you explain this?"

The GGs drew back.

One of the speakers they had brought from the garage had been hacked. The front was smashed in, and long scars pockmarked its casing.

"Lose your temper, did you?" Cube said.

"I didn't do that," Gum said. "Come on, who do you think I am?"

"We don't know," Combo said. "I was thinking you was innocent, but now…Beat says the speaker was fine when he left you earlier, and so does Tab. And no one else's been back since."

"Prove it," Gum retorted, folding her arms to stop them shaking. She'd wanted to break something…she'd wanted to…but she'd only thought it, hadn't she? She had to have only thought it.

_You wanted to hurt Mew as well. Are you sure you only thought that?_

A wave of shivering broke over Gum's skin. 

"Beat said he told you you weren't a GG no more," Slate said. "Then he left. Tab left a little later. You freaked. Again."

"Hey, just cos she broke the speaker doesn't mean she killed Mew!" Piranha said. "Maybe she was pissed because Beat's kicking her out for something she didn't do!"

"Yeah," Garam said. "And we've all flipped out before. Why're you giving her a hard time?"

"Because," Slate said, "If she broke the speaker, she's done it with an axe. Look at it. And if she used the axe, she must know where it is. And if she knew where it is…see what I'm getting at?"

"I didn't do any of it," Gum snapped. "You can't keep accusing me of stuff."

"Well, who else should we accuse?" Yo-Yo said. "The invisible man?"

"I am just sick of this!" Gum yelled. "Why won't you believe me?"

"If she said she didn't do it, I believe her," Piranha said.

"Me too." Tab came to stand next to Gum.

"Well, whatever," Slate said. "Believe what you want to believe, and I'll believe what I want to believe. Then we'll all be happy."

"Fine," Gum said. She wasn't going to cry now. She was too angry. "And when I prove it was someone else who did this, maybe you'll start believing the truth."

(R+r people!)


	4. 4

Chapter 04

(I own Botan, but no one else. Please r+r! Oh, and feel free to speculate who the murderer is. I shall enjoy watching your puny efforts…*cackles evilly*)

"But they didn't believe you, did they?" Botan said. "That's why you skipped out."

Gum stared down into her cup. Her reflection looked up at her, hollow-eyed and pale.

"That's right," she said. "But that was later."

She painted in Kogane-cho that evening. So what if she wasn't supposed to? She was a rudie and she was gonna tag. They weren't going to stop her.

The shadows were lengthening over the orange ground. She glanced at her watch. Getting kinda late. She didn't want to still be in Kogane-cho when it turned to night. It was too dangerous.

Suddenly she heard the sound of skates, coming up behind the wall. She stopped painting, and moved back a few steps. She didn't want another row, not at the moment.

"Tell me the truth." Piranha's voice echoed round the street. "Did you?"

"Did I what?" Garam replied.

"Did you…you know what I'm on about."

"Did I hack Mew and the speaker into bite-sized lumps?"

Gum tried not to breathe.

"No, I didn't. And I don't have no reason to."

"Even though she –"

"I was pissed about that but I didn't kill her," Garam said. "You know how mad I got. But I only got mad. No violence."

"Really."

"Yes, really!"

"I know you," Piranha said. "Everyone thinks it's Gum, but I know you, Garam. I've seen you hit out and –"

"Well, I didn't hit out this time. Thanks for believing in me, Piranha. I really appreciate it."

"I'm sorry," Piranha said. "It's just…she got you so angry and –"

"She got you angry too. Did you do it?"

"No, I didn't!" Piranha snapped. 

"See?"

"We mustn't let the others find out," Piranha said. "They'll accuse us as soon as look at us if they know."

"Yeah."

Gum heard them skate away. 

So someone else had a secret. Maybe this finding the real killer wouldn't be so hard after all.

Only Tab was in when she got back, but that was the way she wanted it. Standing by the fireplace, she told him what she'd heard.

"So they had a reason to be mad with Mew." Tab looked thoughtful. "Yeah, you're right, it does sound pretty dodgy. But if they denied it to each other…"

"One might be truthful, but the other lying," Gum said. "Reckon we should ask them?"

"Yeah, I do," Tab said. "When they get back, we'll do some questioning. By the way, have you still got those letters safe?"

"Yeah. I'm keeping 'em with me at all times."

They heard footsteps outside, and Beat and Slate came in. Both of them tensed up when they saw Gum.

"I'm going," she snapped. "Don't worry, I won't pollute the air with my ex-GG germs."

"I saw you tagging in Kogane," Beat said. "Don't give my gang a bad name."

"You're the only one who's doing that," Gum said. 

"Found the killer yet?" Slate said.

"We're working on it."

"Sure you are. Just don't keep hanging around with us normal people, okay?"

"If normal means being a narrow-minded arrogant jerk then I'm glad I'm not," Gum said, keeping her voice light with an effort.

Suddenly the door flew open and the rest of the GGs piled in, then stopped as they noticed the tense atmosphere.

"Hey, guys," Piranha said at last, "who's up for pizza tonight?"

"Whatever," Beat said. 

"Any topping preferences?"

"Not prawns," Cube said. "Anything but prawns."

"Sounds cool to me," Tab said as the rest of the GGs called out orders. "You want me to come get it with you, Piranha?"

He glanced at Gum.

"Hey, I'll come too," she said. "I need an airing."

"Cool," Piranha said.

As they skated out of the garage, she said to Gum, "The others giving you a hard time, huh?"

"Yeah. But I can handle it."

"If you say so." Piranha shrugged. "Just don't stress out, okay? This'll blow over."

"When?" Gum said. "When we find the real killer?"

"I guess so."

"Can't imagine who that'd be," Tab said from Piranha's other side. "I mean, everyone liked Mew, didn't they?"

"Mm."

"She was like your friend, wasn't she?"

"Yeah." Piranha didn't look at him.

"Course, I heard you had a row with her quite recently."

"Really?" Piranha said. "That doesn't sound right. I mean, Mew and I didn't usually row."

"Yeah. Maybe it was Garam and Mew instead."

Gum saw Piranha tense up. 

"You might as well tell us," Tab said, "because basically we know everything."

Piranha stopped and turned to face them. "What?" she demanded. "What do you know?"

"What I just said. Practically everything."

"But – but you don't think I did it, do you?" Piranha stammered. "I didn't. I mean, I just didn't! And nor did Garam, I know he can get tense but he didn't do this."

"Hey, I don't know whether you did it or not," Tab said. "That's what me and Gum are trying to find out."

"I don't have an alibi or nothing," Piranha said. "But please don't tell them you think it's me. They'll – they'll –"

"Kick you out?" Gum said. 

Piranha didn't look at her.

"Don't worry," Tab said. "This is just a routine enquiry."

I wish it was you, Piranha, Gum heard herself think. I wish it was. Then you could go and I could come back and everyone would like me again…

Are you nuts? she yelled at her brain. The person who's kicked out is gonna be the murderer. And you can't start accusing others just to save your own skin. Someone else is doing that to you right now and you hate it, so stop it!

She sighed and tuned back into the conversation. Tab was saying, "So how did it all start?"

"Well, Mew and I were arguing," Piranha said slowly. "She said she was more agile than me…no, actually, she said she was the most agile of us all…and I said prove it…and we were getting into a really big row about it…so I think she said, let's have a contest, and we had a forfeit for the loser, and she won. This was the day before the garage flooded, I think…and anyway, I was furious…I screamed at her that she'd cheated, and she said I had to do it…"

She swallowed. "It wasn't money. Something else. I told Garam, and he wasn't pleased…I didn't want to do it…she said she'd get me kicked out if I didn't…when I saw she was dead, for a moment I was actually pleased…and then I was frightened, I thought Garam had done it."

"And now you think he didn't?" Tab said.

"He can't have done," Piranha said. "He _can't."_

They'd reached the pizza place now. Piranha stopped. "Look, don't tell the others, okay? You see what they're like, they'll start suspecting me. Just keep quiet about it. I'll go order."

"Well?" Tab said as Piranha walked into the building.

"Sounds plausible," Gum said. "Even if she didn't do it, Garam might've." Why can't she tell the others? she thought, the sentence smouldering in her brain. Would it kill her just to be ignored a bit? They won't stop thinking it's me anyway. Beat's made up his mind. 

She breathed in the smell of dough and cooked tomato and melted cheese, and her stomach lurched. The tension in her body left no room for food.

When they got back, each clutching a warm cardboard container, the GGs were waiting, silent. Once or twice someone would make a joke, but it fell into a deep pool of gloom and drowned.

"Here we are," Piranha said, her voice echoing in the dark room. "One cheese and tomato, one onion and red peppers, one pepperoni and cheese, and one mushroom and anchovy." 

"No ham and pineapple?" Cube said.

"Only Mew eats that –" Piranha stopped.

Gum felt the air temperature drop several degrees as several GGs turned to look at her.

"Well, I'm not really hungry," she snapped. "So don't let me put you off your food."

She walked upstairs into the bedroom she'd been in before, just to show them she didn't care. Putting on the torch that had been left in the room, she curled up on the bed and tried to think. 

But she couldn't focus on anything sensible. Instead, for some reason her thoughts had decided to go straight into full-blown nostalgia mode.

_She stared as the guy skated down the street. He looked like he was entering a contest for Person Most Likely To Get Caught By Cops. Heck, he wasn't even dashing!_

_"Hold it," she called. You can't go tripping through the streets till you learn some basics. Try this."_

Well, she couldn't just leave him to face it all on his own. 

The guy stumbled as he heard her call, and then turned to look at her. The sunlight fell on his skin and face, and she felt an odd jump in her stomach. Quickly she squashed the feeling, and carried on speaking…

… "Don't you just love the view up here?" Beat said as they stood on Kogane rooftops.

"Meaning what exactly?"

"You're on top of the world. You can do what you want, you can just…run down the roofs and be free…or does that sound really goofy?"

"Nah, I know what you mean. Sometimes I just want to keep on skating, never land on the ground…"

"Me too. Maybe every rudie does."

The sunset reflected in Beat's goggles as he gazed out over the city, his skin turned golden by the light.

Just do it, she thought.

She put her hands on his shoulders, feeling his bones under her palms, and kissed him…

Stop it! Gum slapped at the tears on her cheek. Just stop being such a baby! He didn't love you, the bastard, he was just screwing around until Miss Cutesy Face came along. Accept it and stop whining!

They must have laughed at her…they must have found it so funny, her going around with a lovestruck smile all the time…and she'd been so happy…thought she'd found love at last…oh, please! She punched the pillow so hard her hand ached. 

They were wrong. Punching it didn't make you feel better. It just made you hungry to hurt more.

She lay back, stared up at the ceiling, tried not to think. Echoing up through the chimney and out of the fireplace she could hear the other GGs living below her. Not much talking. Not this time. 

That pizza question had been a mistake.

_"Mew, how can you eat that stuff?" Cube demanded as Mew bit into a slice of ham and pineapple pizza._

"It's yummy," Mew retorted with her mouth full. "Anyway, Combo eats mushroom and anchovy."

"Yeah. I'm surrounded by weird people!"

Funny how so many memories could be attached to one thing.

_"Pizza night!" Tab yelled. "Any special choice?"_

"Don't forget the ham and pineapple!" Mew yelled.

He bowed, sweeping off his hat. "Lady, it will be my greatest concern."

"You little prat!" Mew scooped up the empty pizza box and threw it at Yo-Yo. It hit him on the head, and he collapsed, writhing, on to the floor.

"No…no…nooooo…the dreaded ham and pineapple…the horror of the combination…I can't stand it…nooo…"

"We are getting too set in our ways!" Beat yelled. "I mean, I can even quote what pizza you all like! Combo, mushroom and anchovy. Mew, ham and pineapple –"

"Will you stop dissing the pizza?" Mew said. "This from a guy who thinks vegetables happen to other people?"

"Anyway, you'll never get Mew off the ham and pineapple," Cube said. "The girl has a mainline addiction."

And now she's dead, Gum thought.

The sky was darkening. She got up and crossed over to the window. Benten-cho was a sea of lights to the west, Kogane-cho a dark, rippling pit to the east. She pulled the moth-eaten curtain across, and sighed.

She could hear voices, echoing from the fireplace as the chimney bounced the sound waves up to her. Kneeling down, she tried to pick out the sentences. If they wouldn't let her go down there, she'd have to have company another way.

"Beat?"

Piranha's voice. 

Not you too, Gum wanted to snarl.

"What."

He sounded so dead these days.

"Just wondered if you wanted to talk."

"I don't need a therapist."

"What about a friend?"

"I've got my gang."

"You've tried to kick out your two oldest friends."

"Like I care about that. She killed her."

"You think?"

"I know."

"Beat, you don't think it was just…you're looking for someone to blame?"

"Someone needs to be blamed!" Beat snapped. "It wasn't like she fell down the stairs or got food poisoning or something! Someone killed her!"

"But that someone wasn't necessarily Gum."

"Then who was it, Piranha. You tell me."

"I don't know. I'm just saying, maybe you shouldn't be so quick to cut off connections when you don't have proof."

"Even if I didn't think it was Gum, she still wouldn't speak to me," Beat said. "She hates my guts anyway."

"You told her she was nothing but a time-filler, according to Tab," Piranha said.

"Maybe I was a little mad with her. But I love Mew. I didn't mean Gum to find out like that. I was going to tell her and then, me and Mew, we could have…"

He stopped.

"I don't think she's dead, you know," he said at last. "I keep expecting her to walk in, or hear there's been a mistake. She can't just have been…been rubbed off the world. She's got to be alive, somewhere…"

Gum moved back, away from the fireplace. Most of her felt kind of sorry for Beat, but something was growling under that, oh, yeah, she's so bloody marvellous even death can't top her. Who cares how Gum's feeling, what's important is Mew…

"Listen to yourself!" Gum snapped to her mind. "You sound like a bitter, twisted old hag. You should be sorry. You should forgive. You should put flowers on the grave. You shouldn't sit here thinking – thinking that."

His hands on her bare bony shoulders…

"Well, I just won't think about it," she said, and glanced at her watch. It was ten p.m. Late enough.

She undressed and pulled on the white T-shirt she wore in bed. It was cold. No rain tonight, only icy draughts that bit her feet when she took her skates off.

She wanted to go down to the bathroom, wash her face, clean her teeth, but she wasn't going to face the others tonight.

Lying down on the bed, she emptied her mind of thought, and tried to sleep.

A hand on her face.

She shrieked, and someone's arm came down across her mouth. 

"Shut – up." A dry whisper that she could hardly hear over the hammering of her heart. Whoever it was had their hand over her eyes. She lay completely flat and still, and hoped she'd wake up and this would go away…

"Now listen. I heard you asking questions. Don't."

The arm was tentatively removed from her mouth. "Who are you?" she whispered. 

"Never mind. Just accept you're guilty."

"I'm not guilty."

"You are. I saw you do it."

Gum's throat seemed to freeze, preventing her from speaking.

"Yes, that got you, right?" The voice laughed. "I saw you. You ran downstairs, looking kind of unfocused, and then you smashed the glass. She was in there, at the sink. She heard you, and turned, and then…well, I won't go into what happened next."

"Why haven't you said anything?" Gum strained to identify the voice. It was male, but that was all she could tell. 

"Because I don't want to be the next victim." 

"I didn't do it." She spoke the old phrase, but its power was fading. "I didn't!" She shouted it, and then tasted blood as the side of his hand caught her mouth.

"I said, shut up, didn't I?"

She realised how close he was to her. She could feel him kneeling on top of her legs, his muscles tensed, separated from her only by that horrible blanket. And she thought: '_He could rape me and kill me, and no one would know…'_

She tried not to whimper. 

"You better keep your eyes shut," the guy said. "You hear me, you murdering slut? You keep 'em shut or you're in real trouble."

If I'm the murderer, how come he's threatening me, Gum thought, mind falling. She felt him get off her, and she kept her eyes shut, hating herself as she did. Coward, can't you even fight back?

Footsteps, scraping, then silence. Gum lay there, heartbeats feeling like they'd burst through her throat, waiting. The building was completely quiet.

Suddenly she sat up and grabbed the torch. Switching it on with shaking fingers, she stared round the room. 

There was no one there. But she hadn't heard the door open. 

Was he still here?

She tried not to move.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

She screamed.

"Gum? Gum, are you okay?"

Tab dashed into the room. "Why'd you scream?"

Gum stared at him, trying to take in who he was. 

"Gum?" He spoke more quietly, stepped closer to her. "Has something happened? Hey, you're bleeding…"

She licked her lips, felt the split skin. 

"Someone…" She couldn't speak. 

"What?" He sat down next to her. "Come on, you can tell me. You have a nightmare?"

Maybe it _was _a nightmare, Gum thought. But…her lip was bleeding…

"Someone was in my room," she whispered. "In this room…"

"Who?" He didn't laugh. 

"I don't know. A guy. He – he had his hand over my eyes…He told me he'd seen me…he'd seen me kill her…"

"You're joking." He took her hands. "Gum, you don't believe this jerk, do you?"

"He said he hadn't spoken out because he didn't want to be the next victim…"

"Well, he's wrong," Tab said. "He's gotta be."

"How do you know?" Gum said, wincing as her lip stung. "You know what I can do. You saw Nara after I'd finished with her. What's to say I didn't just go a little further this time?"

"Gum, Nara had been on your case for weeks, we both know that –"

"And Mew wasn't?"

"You may be short-tempered, but you're not a murderer, okay? Quit being dumb. I know you, and I know you wouldn't do it."

"I don't know where he went…" Gum looked round the room. "What if he's still here?"

"When I find out which of them pulled a stunt like this…" Tab muttered. "You want me to look?"

She nodded, and saw him drop out of sight as he knelt to look under the bed. "Nope, nothing here."

"And there's nowhere else he could have gone to," Gum said. "But the door didn't open. So where the hell is he?"

"Maybe you sort of blacked out for a bit," Tab said. "You seem pretty freaked at the moment." 

"Yeah, I seem to black out a lot, don't I?" Gum said. "Maybe I blacked out at a crucial moment when I last saw Mew."

"Will you quit it with that stuff!" Tab snapped.

They glared at each other. Finally he said, "Look. You want me to stay in here or anything?"

Gum looked away from him, and said, "Sure. I'm not scared. But…"

"I know." Tab slid down against the bedside table. "You gonna leave the light on?"

"You betcha."

Gum lay back on the pillow. Shadows rose up in the corners, eating into the torchlight.

She was still trembling, and now she was reliving what had just happened. Vision blocked. Hand slamming into her mouth. Terror…

Tears stung her eyes, and she angrily blinked them away. Lying still, she listened to the cars outside, to the creaks of the house, to Tab breathing near her. The sound of another human, close by, safe and unthreatening, helped her heartbeat to slow, and eventually she dozed off.


	5. 5

Chapter 05

(Disclaimer: Don't own JSR. Do own Botan. So far everyone seems to suspect either Tab, Combo or Cube…hmm…well…feel free to keep speculating!)

"Man." Botan looked worried. "Not surprised you freaked out, babe."

Gum shrugged. "I'm okay now. You sure you want me to keep on with this?"

"Oh, come on. You can't stop now."

Gum opened her eyes. A paper-thin piece of sunlight was edging its way round the curtain.

She looked down at Tab, who was slumped on the floor. She checked he was breathing, then called his name.

"Hmm…yeah, yeah, I'm up…" Tab blinked, straightened his hat, and sat up a little. "Oh, yeah, I remember. You okay?"

"I'm fine." In the daylight Gum was starting to wonder whether it hadn't been a nightmare after all.

"Hey, get those letters," Tab said. "Let's see if there's any clues in 'em."

Gum stretched out and reached under her mattress, located the bundle of letters and handed them to Tab.

"Hmm…" He flicked through them. "Angst…more angst…violent angst…hey, listen to this!"

He cleared his throat, and read out, "You're warped, you know? Like a song that don't play. You're twisted and sick."

"_You're _twisted and sick?" Gum snorted. "Talk about a hypocrite."

"When they find out they'll drop you. Like they drop one-hit wonders. You know that. You know it, they'll all hate you and you'll deserve that because like I said you're a freak."

"That's it?" Gum said.

"That's it."

"And the point of it is?"

"Sounds like our little couple split up because whoever these letters were sent to was…different, and our writer took exception to it." Tab hopped to his feet and sat down on the bed, leaning against Gum's feet. "Okay…really violent angst…" He started to sort through the letters again. "More bad grammar…angst and bad grammar…ah, here we are. Ahem."

He began reading out again.

"You whore. You slut. I can't believe you did that. At least if it was normal I could understand. But it isn't. You're not normal. You went with her and you deserve to –"

Suddenly the door flew open. Tab flung a fold of blanket over the letters as Cube walked into the room.

"Hey," she said. "What was all that noise about last night?"

"I had a nightmare," Gum said before Tab could speak. "Pretty dumb, huh?"

"I'm not surprised, with all that's going on." Cube dropped down next to Tab. "You okay now, right?"

"Yeah," Gum said. "Tab made himself my knight in rudie armour."

"Heh." Tab stood up, surreptitiously picking up the letters as he did so. "Well, I'll leave you two girls alone, then."

As the door shut behind him, Cube turned to Gum. "You didn't…well, you don't fancy him, do you? I thought you were in mourning over Beat."

"No, of course I don't." Gum felt a tingle of unease in her stomach. "He's my friend."

"That's what they all say."

"Oh, shut up!" Gum tried to speak lightly, but her throat was tight with nerves, and she didn't know why.

"Talking of Beat, you still blue about him?"

"I guess so." Gum remembered the hatred in his voice as he'd talked about her last night. "It's kinda hard him hating my guts."

"Guys do that sometimes," Cube said. 

"Oh, really? Not usually because you're a suspected killer."

"Some guys think there are things even worse than that."

"I'd like to meet one. Then maybe I'd be cut some slack."

Cube shrugged. "Maybe."

Gum glanced at her. She sat, staring at the smudged sky, eyes suddenly angry.

"Cube? Did some guy get on your case?"

"You could say that." Cube got to her feet. "Great. I was here to cheer you up, not tell you my problems. I'd better go. Don't worry, okay? We'll deal with this."

Gum watched her walk out. 

I do not fancy Tab, she snapped in her head. I do not.

Her thoughts maintained an innocent silence. 

I do not!

"What's with you?" she heard Combo say, from outside her room.

"Nothing." That was Cube.

"Well, you just keep your mouth shut, then."

"Combo, I don't understand why you –"

"What are you, stoopid or something? They'd jump to the obvious conclusion. Besides, I don't wanna talk about it myself."

"You – you didn't kill her," Cube said, sounding as though she was trying to reassure herself.

"Of course I damn well didn't!"

"Keep it down," Cube hissed. 

"Don't worry, everyone's out."

"Except Gum and Tab."

Combo snorted. "Ghetto Sherlock. Plus sidekick. I ain't scared of them."

"Well, if they hear you talking like that…"

"I said I didn't kill her, okay? I don't kill family."

His voice was low on the last sentence. Gum's mouth dropped open.

"What about you?" Combo continued. "You have some grudge against her?"

"No," Cube snapped.

"Liar."

"Oh, and what makes you think that?"

"You're using your 'don't even suggest that or I'll punch you but actually you're not far from the truth' voice."

"Shut up, psychoanalyst."

"Well, did ya? Have some beef against Mew?"

"I loved the girl," Cube shouted, voice stinging with sarcasm. Her voice was fading as she walked down the stairs. "She was my best friend. I wanted to have her baby. Now I'm going out and I don't want to talk about this again."

"I didn't bring it up."

Gum heard the front door slam, and then footsteps as Combo walked down the stairs as well. And then another slam.

Combo and Mew? Family? No way!

She drew her knees up against her chest and rested her chin on them while she thought. They didn't look alike. But then neither of them had ever talked about their past lives. 

He'd said _see ya, sis _when he'd gone to bury her. She'd thought he'd been using it as a term of endearment. Surely Mew couldn't really have been…

No way!

Anyway, that must rule him out, she thought. He'd be even less likely to murder her if he thought she was his sister or something. 

But why didn't she tell any of us? Or why didn't he? 

She heard the front door open, and Tab called, "Hey, Beat." He didn't receive a reply.

Great. Gum tried to carry on with her train of thought, but it was like she could feel Beat in the house, like he glowed as if on a heat-seeking display, like their pulses were mingled. And he didn't want to know her.

She got up and eased open the door. Tab stood by the fireplace, reading the letters, and she could hear clattering from the kitchen, so she presumed Beat was in there. 

"So what's it like out there?" Tab called to him.

Gum saw the kitchen door slam shut. Tab sighed, and returned to his reading.

Closing the bedroom door, Gum began to get dressed. Normally she did so quickly, impatient to get out and get on with something, but today her blood felt diluted and her brain too tired to be excited.

At last she was ready. She picked her way down the stairs.

"Found anything?" she said to Tab.

"Sort of. I've got a few ideas, I'll spill when I'm clearer."

"You hear Cube and Combo?"

"You bet. Sounds like there's something they're not telling us."

"I don't fancy asking them, though," Gum said. "I don't know about you, but I like my nose unbroken."

Tab laughed. "Well, I guess it's keep our ears open time. As usual. You want to come out tagging with me?"

"Sure."

They spent the whole day out in Tokyo-to, first tagging Benten, then Kogane, and finally returning to Shibuya.

They were under the unfinished motorway when it happened.

"Hey, killer, over here."

Gum's hand tensed on her spray paint as Slate's voice rang out. She pretended not to hear.

"Just shove off," she heard Tab say from behind her.

"Why? You oughtn't be hanging around with her, hat boy." That was Yo-Yo. "She might turn you into dog meat as well."

"Just get a life." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tab turn back to his tag.

"If you don't watch out, you're gonna lose yours."

Beat's voice was filled with hate.

"Is that a threat, leader man?" Gum heard a clatter as Tab flung his spray paint can to the ground. "Don't start a fight in a public place."

"Why not let her speak for herself?" Slate said. "She does a lot of hiding behind you."

That did it. Gum dropped her own paint, dashed over, and grabbed Slate by the jacket. 

"I don't hide behind anyone, ghetto Bert," she snarled. "You just remember that."

"You get off him." She felt hands drag her back. "You don't touch our gang members."

"I am one of your gang members," she yelled up at Beat. "You have no proof that it's me!"

"Well, we're gonna find proof!" Yo-Yo yelled. "We're gonna find proof that you're a sick psycho and then your ass is gonna fry!"

"That's a threat?" Gum shouted. "Go back to your teddy bear, ginger."

"We just want to tell you one thing," Slate said. "If you and hat man don't find concrete, conclusive proof that you didn't do it in the next two days, you are out of the GGs."

Gum felt her eyes widen. "No way," she blurted out.

"Way," Beat said. "Come on, guys."

Gum watched as the three of them skated away. She could feel her hands shaking.

"Bastards." Tab had come up behind her, put an arm round her shoulders. "Come on, we'll prove it."

"How can we damn well prove it?" Gum kept her voice low with an effort. "We don't have any damn proof. We have nothing but suspicion."

"Come on. Let's go back. We'll rest a little, and maybe we'll think of something."

"Whatever." Gum followed him back through the streets, her shadow stretching out behind her like a blade. "And if we don't?"

"Then we'll just have to find some other gang that'll take a hat boy and a sassy bitch."

"You'd quit because of me?"

"I'm not staying in the GGs if you get kicked out. This ain't fair."

"Thanks." Gum's spirits rose a little. If Tab was going to stick with her, maybe things wouldn't be all bad.

They got back to the house as the sun set. The sky was ripped with orange, glinting in the puddles dotting the road. 

They opened the door, and Tab gripped her hand and pulled her through the room towards the stairs, ignoring the sudden silence from the other GGs. "Come on, come on, got work to do…"

"Sure you have," Slate sneered.

"Yeah, nose man, we have," Tab retorted. "I know it's a foreign concept to you, but some of us actually like to get off our asses and achieve something once in a while."

He dragged Gum up the stairs and into her bedroom, pausing only to call out, "So learn to live with it, okay?"

"You shouldn't have said that," Gum said as Tab closed the door behind them. "He'll just be more mad with us."

"Well, excu-use me." Tab grinned. "He's bugging me. I ain't letting you put up with all this."

"Have you actually got any new ideas?"

Tab shrugged. "Maybe. But I need to think about them. So I suggest you relax a bit. You're all tense."

"I'm allowed to be tense."

"I know, but I think you should try and chill a little."

Gum sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed. "Okay. Chilling. Trying not to think about the others plotting to lynch me. Chilling."

Tab sighed. She heard the bed creak as he sat down next to her. "I just wish I could make it all better for you."

"That's sweet of you." Gum closed her eyes. It was nice just to lie there, try and relax a little. She didn't relax much even in normal circumstances.

And these were _not _normal circumstances. If they didn't find something – anything – she'd be packing her bags. She shivered. Out on her ear. She wanted to stay friends with the GGs. She didn't want to be kicked out, hated, accused…

She groaned.

"Stop it." Tab gently massaged her shoulders. "I'm not letting you get a heart attack."

Gum tried not to notice how it was getting harder to breathe as his fingers touched the back of her neck. 

"I won't get a heart attack…" she replied, feeling the organ in question speed up as he caressed her spine. "I'm a rudie…healthy lifestyle…"

"Apart from the tear gas and the tanks and the machine guns and the dogs."

"Yeah, well…"

"Feeling relaxed yet?"

No, Gum thought silently. It was impossible to relax. Every cell in her body was flushed, tingling. But why? This was Tab, for heaven's sake!

"Not totally," she replied. 

She felt him touch her throat as he undid the clip of her helmet. "Let your hair down, honey."

Gum sat up a little and shook out her squashed hair. Turning to face him, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks. I guess I'm a little more chilled now."

"You don't look it."

"Then maybe I'll just have to prove it." She was no longer worried. Her life was shit at the moment. Seize the day, right? "I'm relaxed – relaxed enough to do this…"

She leaned forward and kissed him. It seemed like the best, the rightest thing to do…yes…Like scratching an itch. Gave her the same feeling of relief.

"So that's what girls do when they're relaxed," Tab said when they finally moved apart. He was smiling. "I gotta try this more often."

"Want to try it now?" Gum's brain forced her to say. 

"If that's an invitation, then I'm accepting."

He kissed her again.

It was good, yeah, but now she was wanting more – she was nothing inside but a yawning pit of desire, needed to be filled. Reaching out, she unzipped his boiler suit, and said, moving back from him, "It's a little hot in here, don't you think?"

"Oh, well, if you say so…" She felt him press against her, his hands were on her back, and then she heard her dress being unzipped, and it slid down her shoulders, leaving them bare. 

Tab pulled his arms out of his boiler suit, and kissed her again. Underneath it he wore a battered blue T-shirt. The feel of his skin on hers made her shiver, but she could feel sweat starting to speckle her forehead and throat.

"Hey," she said at last. "You've still got your hat on."

"Well, you know what the song says."

"You Can Leave Your Hat On? I don't think so." 

Quickly she pulled it off. 

"Oh, well, now the hats are off, anything could happen," Tab said. He gently eased Gum's dress off over her head, and she shivered as the damp air hit her skin. 

"Anything?" she said. "Like you actually getting that T-shirt off?"

"Is that a challenge?"

She smiled at him.

Tab returned it, then quickly pulled his T-shirt off over his head. Putting her hands on her shoulders, he pushed her down onto the bed. "Beat that, honey."

"That's not fair…" Gum felt like her whole body was waiting now, breathless, on the edge, tense with expectation. "You're not letting me up. And I can't get my bra off unless you do."

"I know." Tab smirked. He kissed her again, on her face, her throat, her collarbone, her breasts. Gum felt her throat tighten. She wanted this, she needed it, it was all she'd ever been meant to be. His body was warm next to hers, she could feel his heartbeat, his ribs, his breathing, he was close to her, protecting her…

"Let me at least get my skates off," she said. He let her sit up, and she undid her skates, kicked them off, and then, before he could move, she'd undone her bra and thrown that off as well. Finally, she wriggled out of her underpants, and said, "I win."

"Cheat," Tab said. He was undoing his skates as well, and taking off the rest of his clothes. Before he could finish, Gum pushed him back down again, and kissed him, hard, trying to burn off some of the heat that was filling her. If she didn't, it felt like she'd spontaneously combust…she _had _to do this…

She shifted position, felt his ribs beneath her fingers…

And then they were together…she remembered small details afterwards…his hands caressing her shoulder blades…her elbow catching in the holes in the blanket…his hair brushing her throat…

And him inside her, with her, together with her forever.


	6. 6

Chapter 06

Gum could feel herself blushing. Thank god she hadn't told Botan everything she'd just been remembering. 

The memory was good, but it hurt too. She was cold now. Alone. 

"But if you and he were getting frisky, how come he didn't come with you last night?" Botan asked. "Or did he screw you over?"

Gum shook her head. "This only happened twenty-four hours ago," she said. "It was after that…everything went wrong."

She lay there, comfortable in Tab's arms, feeling warm all over. Eventually she dozed off, unable to stop smiling. 

She dreamt of nothing. That was the way she liked it. She lay in a deep, warm pit of unconsciousness, and rose up out of it slowly the next morning.

As she lay there, she remembered what had happened last night, and a smile spread over her face like a wave breaking. She glanced down at herself – yes, she was naked, yes, it had happened, yes, everything was marvellous!

There was blood spattered across her leg.

Well, at least I'm not pregnant, she thought…

But there was more, staining her arm, her side, the sheet beneath her…

Suddenly she didn't want to look at Tab. Suddenly she just wanted to go back to sleep and pretend she hadn't noticed anything.

"Freaking at the sight of blood?"

She jumped, and saw, standing in a group in the far corner, the other seven GGs.

They all looked furious.

"Do you mind?" she said. 

"Go on," Cube said, voice filled with fury. "Take a look at him."

"No."

"Just do it."

Gum swallowed, and reluctantly turned to glance at Tab.

He lay on his stomach, as naked as she was, blood smeared all over his back, clotted in his hair, dark and angry. She could see the cut on the back of his head, looking impossibly small compared to the amount of gore that it had spewed.

"What happened?" Gum asked as her mind froze.

"You dare ask that?" Beat dashed over to her, grabbed her wrists. "You sit there and ask that like you don't know? You've bloody killed him, he bloody well trusted you and you killed him!"

"I didn't! How do we know it wasn't any of you?"

"Because none of us could have got up here last night," Piranha snapped. "We were all a bit freaked, thought you might attack. So we locked ourselves in the kitchen. Beat had the key –"

"Then how come you aren't all blaming him?"

"Because it's obviously you!" Beat hauled her upwards. "You are out of the GGs, for starters, and if I knew of something worse I could do to you I'd do it."

Gum couldn't breathe. Beat's face was distorted with hate, his hands gripping her wrists like he was trying to strangle them. 

"Let me get dressed," she gasped. "Let go of me and let me put some clothes on."

"And why were they off?" Slate snapped. "Talk about a Black Widow Spider. Get dressed and get out!"

"And by the way, Gum," Garam snapped. "I'm sure you can explain this."

He was pointing to the floor. Beat flung Gum forward, and she stared at the axe lying on the bare floorboards. Over the brown stains were newer, shinier, redder ones.

"I didn't do it," Gum said, the words tumbling over themselves as they tried to be heard. "I didn't –"

"That's getting old," Combo said. "Sorry, babe, but you gotta admit all the evidence is pointing to you."

"And if you didn't do it, who did?" Cube said.

"I don't know!" Gum shouted. "Maybe it was you. Maybe it was Garam. Maybe it was Beat –"

She was knocked back as Beat slapped her round the face. 

"Get your clothes on or leave without 'em," Yo-Yo said.

Slowly, Gum started to do so. As she pulled her dress over her head, most of her was refusing to believe in this. But she knew one thing. She wouldn't cry in front of them all. No way.

She could feel them, all watching her, as she reached to zip up the back of her dress. Then she reached for her skates. 

"Don't bother," Cube said. "No rudie would do what you just did."

"Fuck you. They're my skates and I'm keeping them."

She slid her feet into them, clicked them shut, put on her helmet. "Right," she said. "Happy now?"

"I'm ecstatic," Beat spat back at her. "Right. Piranha, you go call an ambulance for Tab."

"You think he…" Piranha's eyes were tear-filled.

"I don't know, but I'm not letting her get one more victim than I have to. The rest of you, carry on as normal. We gotta stick together."

"Yeah, you're really doing that now!" Gum shouted.

"You, get out." Beat didn't look at her. "Come on, guys."

They turned and walked out of the room.

Gum stood there, shaking with misery and rage. She wanted to hurt them, wanted to make them feel as bad as she did. But she knew what they'd think. _That proves it._

She walked over to Tab instead.

"Tab?" she whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't do it, you believe me, don't you? I didn't do it, I never would and especially not to you…you made me feel the best I've felt for ages last night. I don't think you're dead, you can't be. Not really."

"Well, he is, sugar. Get used to it." 

Gum turned to see Slate, Cube and Combo standing at the entrance.

"I'm going," she said. "You don't need to give me a Keisatsu escort."

"We don't want to do that," Cube snarled. "We want to show you just what we think of murdering scum like you."

"You've all told me you hate me, now let me go."

She walked towards the door.

And Cube punched her in the face. Gum rolled backwards, her eye starting to throb, and she felt Slate catch her arms and twist them up behind her back.

"Let go of me," she yelled. 

He twisted her arm further, forcing a shriek from her lungs. She could feel herself starting to panic, struggled to break free.

"You make me sick." Cube stood facing her. "You jealous bitch, you've wrecked the gang." 

Gum doubled over as Cube's fist slammed into her stomach. Through the tears that had been flung from her eyes she saw that Combo wasn't joining in – he had his back to them all. A lookout?

_You little brat…_

Gum bit down on her lower lip. She wouldn't think about that. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

"We're supposed to be friends." Cube punched her again.

Surely someone would help…she drew deep breaths, trying not to be sick…surely… 

No. No one would come, they all thought she'd done it. They all thought she deserved this. 

A blow to the head shattered her reasoning. 

Don't think. Don't think.

Eventually they let go of her. Gum gripped the door jamb and tried not to faint, tried to stop the world spinning.

"Now you can go." Cube didn't look happy. She looked almost as miserable as Gum was feeling.

Gum wanted to run, but she forced herself to march slowly down the stairs, carefully placing each foot. She wouldn't look guilty. She wouldn't. 

Because she wasn't. Was she?

What had actually happened last night after she'd slept? What had she done? 

Surely she hadn't killed him. _Surely…_

She'd reached the door of the house now. She looked round at the GGs, trying to commit each one to memory, but they wouldn't return her glance. 

She opened the door, and stepped outside. It was a damp day, the air wrapping around her nose and mouth like a wet scarf. Back in the house the GGs were talking loudly among themselves. No one took any notice of her.

She slammed the door, and they vanished.

"So you called me, didn't you?" Botan said. "We picked you up and here you are."

Gum nodded. "I hung round Tokyo-to until you guys could get me."

"What happened to your skates?"

"I went back to the garage. Exchanged them for these." She scuffed the rotting trainers on the floor.

"And you still don't know who the killer is?"

"Botan, I'm scared. I think – I think it's – it's me." She felt her mind sag, exhausted, as she admitted it.

"Do you know it is?"

"I think it is."

"You don't remember doing anything, though, do you?"

"Well, if I did do it, I was asleep. Both times."

"But look, it doesn't make sense that you'd chop up your boyfriend. He'd just given you a night of full-on bursting passion, right? You were all happy and loved-up in his arms. Why'd you wake up and start hacking at him? The girl I could understand, that could have been rage. But I don't believe you killed your guy."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know, do I? But you know what. He was looking at those letters. Said he had a hunch about 'em. Could it be he'd found something conclusive, and someone got scared?"

"But what about the others all being locked in downstairs?"

"How does your leader know he didn't have the key taken off him while he slept?"

Gum shrugged. "Well, I'm not going back there. Not now. They want me away from there, I'm gone."

"To where?"

The scorn in Botan's voice stung her. "I don't know, okay?"

"Exactly. You'll end up screwed. You can't just walk out like that, anyway."

"Why not?"

"Because if you're not the murderer, you've left a killer hidden among your friends, and you can't do that."

"Watch me."

"Gen!"

"Screw you, cousin. I told you what happened. Now leave me alone. The others have told me they think I'm worthless and evil. I don't need your input as well."

She waited until he'd got up and walked into the other room. It was definitely day now. She crossed over to the window, and squinted through the gap in the cracked Venetian blind. 

It had stopped raining, but the street didn't look any better. The walls were smeared and spattered with dirt and grime. Sodden rubbish lay gasping on the pavements and road. Above it all the sky cast a dull white light onto everything.

Gum turned away from it and sat back down on the sofa. Admitting out loud that maybe she was guilty had scared her. Her thoughts ran backwards and forwards, trying to find something to reassure her. Nothing worked.

_You're crazy…_

She touched the black eye Cube had given her, and winced as a tooth-aching pain spread through her head. There had been hatred in the Gothic GG's eyes. _She'd_ thought Gum was guilty.

They all did. All of them except Tab. And now he's – he's –

She could sympathise with Beat, at any rate. And he was right. You didn't think the person was dead. You did just think it had all been a mistake, that they'd suddenly walk in. You couldn't get your mind to bend round the concept that you'd never see them again.

But did I really kill him? Did I?

_You're crazy, you're crazy…_

She shivered, and couldn't stop.

"Gen?"

It took her a few seconds to remember people wouldn't be calling her Gum any more. "What?"

"Look, I know you don't want to remember all this. But I've had an idea."

"What?"

"We could prove if you're the murderer or not."

"Huh?"

"I know a girl who does hypnotism. She could do her stuff and you could go back and see if you actually did it or not."

"You think that'd work?"

"Could do."

"I don't know, Botan. If it turned out I had done it, what'd you do to me?"

He shrugged. "Help you start again or whatever crap you like."

She looked at him. His face was rough, lumpy, scarred with epics of fights, but he looked sincere.

"Thank you," she said. "All right then. I'll see your hypnotist."

They walked out of Botan's flat, up two more flights of stairs, and finally reached another flat. The door had been painted black.

Botan banged on the door. "Hey, Chizu, you up yet? Gotta customer for you!"

Silence. He knocked again.

At last Gum heard the sound of bolts being drawn back, and a girl stared out at them. 

"Oh. It's you," she said at last. Her voice was unwavering, keeping itself on one narrow line.

"Can you hypnotise my cousin?" Botan asked, indicating Gum.

"Why?"

"She needs to find out if she killed someone."

"It mightn't help," Chizu said. "If she thinks she did it, she'll tell me she did. If she thinks she didn't, she'll tell me she didn't."

"Can't we even try?" Gum asked.

"Whatever." Chizu moved back from the door. "Come in."

Gum followed Botan into the flat. It was grey, the dullest room she'd ever seen. Her fingers yearned to cover it with tags, then she bit her lip and reminded herself she wouldn't be doing tagging any more.

Chizu wasn't grey. She was tall and thin, and her clothes hung on her coat hanger shoulders. Her hair was jet black, and hung loose down her back, and her eyes were very wide and couldn't seem to agree on what colour they should be. One minute Gum swore they were blue, the next they seemed green, and then she noticed tints of hazel.

"Okay." Chizu dragged a battered armchair forward. It was covered in holes, like it had been shot. "Sit down here and relax. You got to believe this is going to work, or it won't."

It seemed a bit dodgy to Gum, but she sat down anyway. Chizu sat facing her. 

"Okay," she said. "I'm gonna record whatever you say, and we'll see what we can find out." She tapped a small and extremely ancient-looking tape recorder. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

Chizu held up a small silver pendant in front of Gum's eyes. It was in the shape of something Gum couldn't quite make out. 

Chizu flicked her wrist, once. The pendant started to swing.

"Just watch it." Chizu's voice was two-dimensional. "Lean back. Relax. Watch it. Just watch it. Lean back. Relax. Watch it."

Gum tried to focus on the pendant as it flicked across her vision. She was trying to make out the shape as the light jumped from surface to surface, but she couldn't quite do so. 

"Just watch it."

The armchair was pretty soft, actually. Funny, you wouldn't think such a trashy-looking object could be so comfortable.

"Lean back."

She shouldn't have stayed up storytelling. She was so tired now. Her eyelids were sinking.

"Relax."

Her vision was fading. All she could see was the pendant, swinging, glittering, seeming to float in the air.

"Watch it."

What was it, anyway? Well, no way to work that out now…

She blinked, opened her eyes. The sun was lying across her body, and the pendant had gone.

"Not bad." Chizu looked like she was bored out of her mind. "You want to have a playback?"

"What – what did I say?" Gum asked Botan as Chizu started to rewind the tape. She was baffled. She supposed something must have happened – time had obviously moved on – but what? Why hadn't she noticed it?

"Here we are," Chizu said. "Ready?"

Gum wasn't sure she was. Suddenly she wanted to run out of here."Yeah, I guess so," she said.

Click. Chizu pressed play.

There was nothing but background hiss at first, then Chizu's voice. "Gum, can you hear me?"

"Yes."

I didn't say that, Gum thought. I don't remember it – I – 

She stopped. You've been hypnotised, you prat. 

"Do you know what happened on the night of 7th October?"

"Yes."

"Tell me what you did on that day."

Gum shivered as her voice began to list the events. Please don't say you killed her, she thought. Please.

"…I opened the door. Garam and Piranha were there. Garam asked for privacy. I opened the other bedroom door. Beat and Mew were in there. Beat had his shirt off. Mew was half-naked…"

Gum watched the wheels of the tape turn. Soon. Soon she could be proven to be a murderer. Stop time, please, she thought. I don't want to…I don't want to hear it…

"I ran upstairs to the attic. I cried for a long time. Then I fell asleep. I dreamt that Beat had been killed by Goji Rokkaku, and that Tab rescued me from someone. We ran down the stairs together. I smashed through some water, then it all went dark. I called for help. I reached out and cut my hand. Suddenly the lights went on. I saw Mew lying at my feet. Someone had killed her –"

"Was that someone you?"

Gum felt as if her stomach had turned into a blender.

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." 

"Thank you. Now, can you remember what happened after you slept with Tab?"

Gum blushed. She figured Botan must have been updating Chizu while she'd been under.

"I went to sleep next to him."

"Did anything happen during the night?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Did you kill Tab?"

"No."

"Thank you –"

Chizu shut off the tape. "Anything else you need?"

"No, that's fine." Botan was grinning. "Come on, Gen."

Gum followed him out of Chizu's flat. The hypnotist didn't say goodbye, just watched them go.

"By the way," she called out. "Don't set too much store by that. If you did it and you don't want to know, I'm not skilled enough to make you confess. And I ain't testifying or anything."

Gum sighed as she followed Botan back down to his flat. "She's right, you know."

"Oh, come on," Botan said as he unlocked his door. "She just don't want to get mixed up in things. Look, Gen, you have to go back. You can't let someone else kick you out like that."

"I won't go," Gum snapped. "They've shown me what they think of me. I'm not going back. The only person who cared about me is – dead – and none of the others will listen."

"Then find something that'll make 'em listen. For god's sake, none of our family are quitters."

"Our family are nothing but thugs," Gum snapped. "And I'm one of the worst."

"Stop making yourself sound interesting," Botan sneered. "So you beat up one dumb kid when you were ten. That's nothing."

"Did you see what she looked like afterwards?" Gum closed her eyes. She could still see those horrible newspaper pictures, white faces with black bruises. Nara's eyes squashed, her nose flattened like a boxer's, her lips swollen and her pale skin stained with cuts and punch marks.

"So what? I've seen worse than that. Done worse than that. Got it worse myself."

And those headlines. _Schoolgirl Cat Fight Ends In Tears. What Has She Done To My Baby, Pleads Mother. Unspeakable Violence. Psychopathic Tendencies. Killer In The Making._

Nara's face merged with Mew's, and then the features melted into a sea of blood. Mew. There had been bone visible. Teeth. Not much else had survived. 

Suddenly she didn't want to be herself any more. 

"Please leave me alone," she said.

Botan sighed. "Don't just sit here."

"What else can I do? I'll get out and you can forget me tomorrow."

"Idiot," Botan muttered, but he walked away.

After she'd been kicked out of school, and her parents had – no – she'd gone out, hung round Shibuya, wondering if she dared throw herself in front of a bus. Tab had come to find her.

"You okay?"

"I'm just peachy."

"I heard about what happened. You really got expelled?"

"Swell, ain't it."

"Ah, come on. Loads of people get into fights. Nara's just teacher's pet."

Gum shrugged. "They still kicked me out."

"Are you gonna find another school?"

"Don't know." She stared down at her hands. Her fingers were gashed and bruised. 

"What happened?" Tab asked.

"Nothing!" she shouted. Because nothing had, had it? She'd just caught them in a door or something. No one had hurt her. No one had told her she was bad and deserved it. No one had shaken salt on the cuts to make them sting.

She slammed a brick down on the memory, and sighed. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Tab said. "Here, let's get our skates. We can practise or something."

"Yeah." She smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thanks."

Gum blinked. The old hatred was rising up in her now. But not directed against the GGs, or even her parents. 

Against the killer.

Tab had been her only friend for ages. He'd been the one who stuck by her. He'd made love to her. And she knew, whatever happened, she wouldn't, she just wouldn't have killed him. Not through sleepwalking, not through dreaming, not ever.

So someone else had.

Someone else had killed the person who had made living bearable. 

Someone else was going to pay.

"Botan!" she called. 

"Yeah?"

"Take me back to Tokyo-to. I've got a score to settle."


	7. 7

Chapter 07

(You know the disclaimer. R+r…and keep guessing! ^_^)

The motorbike screeched back into the bus terminal, spattering water everywhere.

"So now what?" Botan asked as Gum swung her legs off the bike and onto the ground.

"I don't know. I can't go to the garage, they'll just beat me up again."

"Then let's find someplace to get a bite to eat and we can talk about your suspects."

"Why're you so interested in all this?" Gum asked.

"I like a puzzle. Besides, when I catch the guy who did this I'll turn his skull into custard. That'll be fun."

"Suits me."

They lurked in a battered burger bar.

"So," Botan said. "Means, motive, and opportunity."

"Huh?"

"The three ways to find a murderer. How could they do it, why did they do it, when could they do it."

"Oh, okay. Well, everyone had the opportunity to do it. We were all asleep, and anyone could have come into the kitchen and just…"

"You said Mew had gone for a drink. You think someone woke up, saw her, followed her out?"

"Must have done. There's no way they could have made her get a drink."

"Well, that makes it sound like it ain't planned, then. So imagine it. Our murderer is woken by Mew walking past him. He sees his chance. He goes out to her. He wants to kill. So he smashes the glass, grabs the axe, kills her, and scarpers back into the other room. And then you come down some time later."

"I guess so."

"Well, what happened to the axe?" Botan said. "You and lover boy searched for it. Why didn't the killer have bloodstains all over'em? Mew must have heard the breaking glass. Why didn't she scream? For that matter, why'd no one else hear the glass?"

"I don't know," Gum said. She pictured the GGs as they were at night. "Even the two who wear black have bare arms. Did the killer clean themselves up at the sink or something?"

"Could be. Okay. So no one can really be ruled out by that, but there's some questions we need to raise. Right. Means. Anyone not able to kill her?"

"How do you mean?"

"Could anyone not have used that axe? Assuming that was the weapon of choice."

"They all thought I did," Gum said.

"Yeah, but is there anyone who definitely couldn't? How big is it?"

Gum showed him, holding her hands about half a metre apart. "I suppose it might be heavy, but we're all quite strong. It's the glass I want to know about. How was it smashed?"

"With a skate?"

"Someone came in, took their skate off, smashed the glass, picked up the axe, and Mew just stood there watching? I don't like the girl but even I don't think she's that dumb."

"Sounds like she knew the person. Or – or maybe…" Botan frowned. "Maybe the guy came in before she did, broke the glass, nabbed the axe, and waited for her."

"That would imply it was premediated, then. How could they predict she'd come in that way?"

Botan groaned. "This is hard! Okay, anything for motive?"

"Are you kidding? We've got 'em coming out our ears. Slate and Yo-Yo were rejected by her. She was Combo's sister, I think. Piranha and Garam had some dispute involving a bet, I don't know what. Nothing for Cube, so far. Tab…well, she made him mad with Beat. Though _he's_ out of it now." She felt her voice wobble, and quickly swallowed to keep calm. "Beat…well, unless he actually hated her for seducing him. But that doesn't seem likely. Seems more like he hates me."

"Well, some of those sound too obvious, and some of 'em just sound stupid. Like her being someone's sister. Big deal, I have a sister, why'd I want to chop her?"

"I don't know, but that's Combo's only connection with Mew." 

"And what about Cube? She don't have any motive?"

"Nope."

"And Slate and Yo-Yo…would they really do that? When they knew it'd be likely that they'd be blamed?"

"Or would have been," Gum said slowly, "if I hadn't found out about Beat and Mew."

"You think they seized an opportunity?"

"Could be." 

"Well, you'll never get either of them to admit it," Gum said.

"Maybe not Slate. But Yo-Yo – he's kinda young, right? Kinda weak…"

There was a rather nasty smile on Botan's face. Gum tried not to smile herself. 

"An ambush," Botan said, "seems to be the way to go."

Gum stood watching the house, hidden in a side street. 

Botan leant on the wall, looking menacing but dormant.

So far Cube, Beat and Combo had gone out, and Slate and Garam had come in. No sign of Yo-Yo.

It was starting to rain again. Gum shivered as pinpoints of icy water forced themselves through her clothes.

She wasn't even thinking about anything in particular when suddenly the realisation hit her: Tab was dead, and she'd never see him again.

What brought that on? she snapped to her mind as she felt tears well up behind her eyes. You've got to be focused, damn it! You've got to be strong. He'd want you to be…

But I miss him so much…There were so many things I wanted to say to him…

The door opened, and Yo-Yo skated out of the house. Gum glanced at Botan and gave him a thumbs-up.

Botan pushed himself off the wall, and sauntered round to cut Yo-Yo off. Then he struck. He grabbed the GG's collar and dragged him back into the side street where Gum was. Gum backed off and ducked into a doorway, where she was hidden, but could still hear the conversation.

"What the hell are you doing?" Yo-Yo yelled. "Let go of me!"

"Listen, punk," Botan growled. "You hurt a friend of mine. I want some answers."

"I don't know what you're talking about! I've never seen you before!"

"The name Gum mean anything to you?"

"How'd you know her?"

"She's my cousin." Botan tightened his grip on Yo-Yo's collar. "And she ain't happy."

"She shouldn't have gone psycho, then, should she?"

Botan punched him. Gum winced. 

"Listen," Botan said. "I gave her a lie detector test. I know she didn't do it. I wanna know who did. She's been chatting to me. She told me the lady who died made you feel like shit a few days ago. Shoved you over in the rain, if I remember right."

"So? So what if she did?" Yo-Yo's voice was high with nerves. "That ain't your business."

More rain was falling now, spotting their clothes and peppering the street.

"Seems like when my cousin found out she'd been screwed over, you might've seen it as a golden opportunity to settle the score with kitty. No one'd blame you when they had her as Public Enemy Number One."

"I didn't touch her, okay?"

"Prove it, shorty." Botan gripped Yo-Yo's arm, twisted it. Gum felt sorry for him, but then she remembered how Slate had done the same to her. No one had helped then. No one would now.

"How can I? I didn't, that's all I can say! Gum did it, she tried to kill Tab too – "

Yo-Yo yelped as Botan twisted his arm further.

"Listen, punk, I want a solution to our little mystery and I want one now. So who's the guilty guy?"

"Not me! I didn't know anything'd happened till your cousin woke me up by screaming her lungs out! If it was anyone it was Slate. Mew'd been going out with him for months and then she just dropped him for Beat. She's always pushing me around, but she used to have a real thing for him."

"Really," Botan said. "Anyone else?"

He pressed his fist into Yo-Yo's throat. The GG choked a little. "Yeah…yeah…"

"Who?" Botan eased his grip.

"Cube."

"Cube?"

"She had some problem with Mew, don't know what it was. People don't notice me much, she kept looking mad at Mew, I'm telling you, but she didn't explain to anyone. Now let go of me!"

"Any tips on who killed Tab?" Botan said.

"I don't know! Maybe his little detective act actually uncovered something important. Anyway, he ain't dead yet, he's in a coma in Shibuya General."

Gum gasped.

He's not dead. There's still a chance. 

She felt like someone had hit her and she just hadn't noticed the pain.

Botan dropped Yo-Yo. "Go back to your painting. And thanks for the tips."

Yo-Yo scrambled to his feet and dashed away through the rain. Botan waited until he had gone before calling, "Gen, what do you think?"

Gum didn't feel able to string a sentence together. "Tab – he's alive…"

"Any other thoughts?"

She blinked. "No…Slate already seemed plausible…Cube's a new one, though…I've got to see Tab."

"How? You ain't a relation."

"Who is?" She began to run down the hill. "I'll see you later, okay? Back at that burger place."

"Okay…"

His voice faded away behind her as she ran. She felt too edgy to keep still. What if she got there and he'd just died? What if she got there and he woke up and thought she was guilty? What if the other GGs stopped her getting there somehow? What if…

She slowed to a halt as she reached the hospital. Suddenly she didn't want to go in. Sure, things were pretty bad now. But they could be worse if she went in and found out something she didn't want to know.

But she couldn't loiter out here forever. She'd been given the chance. She had to take it.

Hospitals always had a hush to them. She'd never felt it in any other building. 

She walked down the corridor behind the doctor, feeling out of place. She wasn't a relative – she'd lied her socks off to the receptionist. She wasn't supposed to be here. 

What if there were other GGs visiting? She'd be toast if that happened.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to put on a calm face.

And then they were there.

Tab lay still, looking like the kid he'd once been. He reminded Gum of one of those statues that recline on top of old tombs. 

"Do your parents know about this?" the doctor asked her. 

Gum remembered she was supposed to be Tab's sister. "We're not in contact with them. Please…what happened?"

"You weren't there?"

"My friends found him. I've only just arrived back in Tokyo-to."

"I see. Well, he was struck once, on the back of the head, with some sort of bladed weapon, possibly an axe. Your friends told me they don't know how it happened, but that they think a joke was taken a little too far."

So they hadn't reported her. That was something, she supposed. 

"Will he…is he going to be…" She stopped. She couldn't say the words. They physically stuck in her throat.

"We don't know."

Better than no. Much, much worse than yes. Gum stared at the flickering heart monitor, her vision blurring. 

"Thanks," she said. 

"Would you like to sit with him a while?"

"I – I guess so." This was like some cheesy movie.

She dropped down in the chair next to him, heard the doctor's footsteps fade away.

"Well," she said. "Here we are."

The gentle bleeps of the machines surrounding them lay under her words.

"Bet you didn't think I'd come back to Tokyo. It's all your fault I have, really. I got mad. Well, that's a surprise. No, but I want to find out who put you here."

She closed her eyes, wishing she could wake up and all this would have been a dream, everything would have been a dream, and she'd be somewhere else, somewhere safe and quiet with no one to bother her.

"It was the letters, wasn't it?" she said at last. "You found something you shouldn't have. I wonder…did you start reading them after I'd dozed off? Where are they now, anyway?"

His face was pale. He wasn't moving. Gum tried not to panic.

"Whoever killed Mew really _hated _her," she said. "I mean, you couldn't have worked out who it was apart from the clothes. You – you were – you are – just an inconvenience. They didn't care about you. They just hit you once."

She knew by rights she should be sobbing over the body, broken hearted and scarred for life, but she could feel her misery and fear dwindling, contracting to form a hard, uncomfortable lump somewhere between her ribs and her throat. It was easier just to keep talking normally.

"Maybe you saw who it was, then, if you were reading the letters. But you got hit in the back of the head. Someone came up behind you. Who was it? Who were those letters from, anyway? That's the only lead you said you had. That's the only reason to kill you…right?"

She sighed. Her voice sounded so small and silly in this room. But if she stopped talking, she'd have to think. And she didn't want to do that. 

"So if that's the case, they'd have stolen them from you. Maybe even destroyed them. So no help there."

But maybe there was something left…

She could try checking out the new HQ again.

"Well, I'd better go," she said at last. "My cousin's helping me. I'll get back to you, okay? You don't need to worry."

She wondered if he'd heard any of that.

As she hurried out of the main door to the hospital, she saw a figure she recognised, and quickly dropped her glance to the ground.

Beat.

What was he doing here?

Come to see him now, she thought. Now the evil murdering bitch has gone. 

Beat passed her without noticing who she was. Once he'd gone into the hospital, she watched as he spoke to the receptionist, and then sat down to wait on one of the cracked plastic chairs. 

She didn't like the realisation that he was probably just as worried about Tab as she was. It was easier to think of Beat as the bad guy in this scenario. But at the moment he didn't look bad. He just looked miserable. She stood, staring at him as he waited inside the bright warm box of a building. 

Suddenly she was slammed off balance as someone walked into her. "Hey, watch it!" 

The guy's voice rang out as he shoved past her. She watched him march into the building. 

Hey, I've got problems too, she thought. And I didn't start shoving complete strangers. No wonder they call teenagers rude and pushy.

Beat was still waiting. She turned to go.

"Botan, I want to search the HQ again."

"Are you nuts?" Her cousin stared at her. "If they catch you –"

"If they catch me they'll beat me up a little and kick me out, that's all. I can handle that."

"If they catch you they'll know you're back here. The murderer will know you're back here."

"And your little mugger impression this morning didn't tell 'em that?"

"I'm hoping they'll think it's just a family avenger. You being there will wreck the story."

"Well, I won't get caught," Gum said, folding her arms. "And I need you to act as lookout so don't bail out on me."

"Fine," Botan said. "But if you get into deep shit, don't blame me."

Gum tried the door of the house. As she'd expected, it was locked.

"Here." Botan pushed her out of the way and started to do something to the door. 

"It's padlocked," Gum said.

"Oh, well, in that case, we may as well go home."

"Botan!"

"Fine, fine. Okay, do you want tact here?"

"What do you mean?"

"This."

Botan stepped back a few paces, then charged. There was a crunch.

"There," he said. "Simple."

"Okay." Gum pushed the door open. "Now, we've seen 'em all go out, so you just yell if you see any come back."

"Right."

Gum stepped into the room.

It was familiar. Too familiar. As if time was prevented from moving on in this place. 

Where to start?

Well, her old bedroom seemed a good place.

She crept up the stairs, keeping her ears open for any sounds, and eased open the bedroom door.

It lay almost exactly as she'd left it. The bed was rumpled, and had blood smeared across the sheets. The torch had gone. And so had the axe.

Damp footprints on the floor. Footprints, not skate prints. 

Who had worn shoes in this place?

The letters. The last she'd seen of them, Tab had been reading them by the fireplace downstairs. Then – then – they'd gone out skating? Later on they'd been given their ultimatum. When they'd gone out, what had he done with them?

Put them in his pocket, she figured. He wouldn't leave them downstairs for anyone to find. So…

His clothes still lay on the floor where he'd taken them off when she'd last seen him. 

She tried not to cry. Dropping to her knees, she picked up his boiler suit and started searching the pockets. 

Zilch. 

If the killer had attacked because of those letters, surely he or she would have destroyed them? 

Which meant there was nothing to find now.

Sighing, Gum got up and kicked the bedside table to let off her feelings. It fell over. Cursing, she bent to pick it up. The knob of the drawer had detached on impact and rolled under the bed. She followed it, and had just caught it when she felt something on the underside of the bed brush her neck. 

Trying not to think of spiders, she put a hand to it and felt dry paper. 

She'd kept the letters under the mattress…

Trying not to get too excited, she wriggled out from under the bed, eased up the mattress, and grabbed the piece of paper. It was a letter all right. She opened it up and saw the heavy handwriting, the singe marks along the edge…yes!

Suddenly she remembered she wasn't supposed to be here. She shoved the letter down the front of her dress, into her bra, and got to her feet. Now, was there anything else she could do while she was here? 

Well, she may as well check out the other rooms while she had the chance. When she'd last been here, Garam and Piranha had had the room across the landing from hers, and everyone else had been downstairs. 

She crept across to their room, eased open the door. The house was still creaking. But of course there was nobody in there. Of course.

Garam and Piranha's room featured a rumpled bed and not much else. They'd had even less furniture than Gum had, and no fireplace. She checked under the bed anyway.

And under the mattress. 

And then she had to grit her teeth to stop a scream.

It wasn't much. Just a curved line of blood soaking into the fabric of the mattress. A line which Gum was pretty sure was the exact shape of the axe blade.

They'd had it under their bed. What the hell was going on?

Suddenly the door flew open.

Gum spun round to face the intruder. She started to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw it was Combo, and then stopped when she remembered she hadn't exonerated him. 

She could hardly breathe at all when she remembered she now had a lot of explaining to do.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Combo had never looked so menacing as he did now.

"Searching." 

"You ain't supposed to be anywhere near this place."

"I had to find out who hurt Tab."

"You get out," Combo said, pulling her to her feet with one enormous hand. "You just lucky Cube ain't here. She wouldn't let you walk away."

"Combo, listen, I –"

"Get out!"

"I'm not –"

"I don't care!"

"Combo, I know she was your sister!" Gum yelled, putting all her strength into the sentence.

There was a long silence. Then Combo said, the power gone from his voice, "Well, she wouldn't thank you for saying that. She didn't wanna acknowledge it one bit. How'd you find out, anyway?"

"I heard you talking to Cube. And – and I heard you call her sis when you went to bury her."

Combo shrugged. "Quite the detective, ain't ya. Well, like I said, I didn't kill her. I don't do that to girls even if they do act like to be related to me is like having leprosy."

He'd not hit her when Cube and Slate had, Gum remembered. "Mew didn't want to know?"

"Nope. Didn't think it was 'appropriate,' if I remember right. My dad ran off when I was a kid. I'd been keeping an ear out for years, my mum told me she thought he'd gone to Japan. When all the Rhino shit happened and we had to fly to Tokyo, I hoped I might find him."

"How'd you find out in the end?"

"I got a name, of the girl my dad had been hanging with for some time while he was in this country. I asked around…I won't go into it all. Found out that girl was Mew's mother."

"So, Mew's – Mew was – mixed race?"

"Uh-huh. Wouldn't guess it to look at her, would you? She weren't too happy either. Seemed to think she couldn't be related to someone so different from her."

"I'm sorry."

"But before you start, I didn't kill her. Sure, it wasn't too hot finding out she weren't interested, but I don't start going nuts just 'cos I been told I ain't good enough for someone. That happens a lot."

"So you think I killed her, then," Gum said. Her mind was humming as she thought. Combo sounded sincere. But he wasn't exactly going to admit it, was he?

"Well, you are the most likely suspect. You found out she'd been sneaking around with Beat and the same night she's dead."

"Well, I didn't do it, okay?"

Combo shrugged.

"Look, I didn't! Loads of other people had problems with her. Slate. Yo-Yo. Cube. Garam and Piranha. What is Cube's problem with her, by the way?"

"I ain't telling. Cube wants it kept secret so that's what I'm doing."

"Even if it could make her the murderer?"

"She ain't," Combo snarled. "I know about Garam and Piranha, though. Mew won a contest with Piranha, and the loser…uhh…I think the loser had to do a striptease in Benten Square or something. Something pretty juvenile."

"Why'd that cause Mew to get murdered?"

"Piranha wouldn't do it. Garam backed her up, she just wouldn't. Mew freaked and said if she didn't she'd make sure Piranha left the gang. The next night Mew was dead."

"Beats me why Piranha wouldn't want to do a striptease," Gum said. "She's practically topless most of the time, what's that all about?"

"Didn't like to ask. Anyway, that's all I know. And it weren't me, and it weren't Cube."

"Glad to see you aren't being a total traitor, Combo."

Gum felt her stomach drop several floors. She turned to see Cube, Slate and Beat standing in the doorway.

They all looked furious.

Shit, she thought. Double shit. Heaps of shit.

Why hadn't Botan warned her, damn him?

"What the hell are you doing here?" Beat said. "Do you never quit?"

"I want to find out who killed her and I want to prove my innocence." Gum was hardly focusing on what she was saying. She could feel blood dashing through her body as her brain scrabbled for a way out of this.

"And what the hell are _you_ doing?" Cube dashed over to Combo. She was several inches shorter than him, but she acted like she didn't care. "You bastard, you're telling her everything –"

"Maybe she's not guilty."

"Maybe I love Britney Spears!"

"You used to believe me!" Gum snapped. "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because only you could have killed Tab," Cube said. "I can't believe I was taken in for so long."

"What are you doing here now, anyway?" Slate said. "You come to hide out and chop us all up?"

"Of course I haven't! You guys have the axe, right? By the way, can you tell me why it looks like it was under Garam and Piranha's bed?"

"What?" Cube scowled. "What are you talking about?"

"Look." Gum knelt down and raised the mattress, pointed to the blood smile. "That's an axe imprint."

"Hang on," Combo said. "Where _is_ the axe?"

There was a pause. 

"It was put somewhere," Beat said at last. "I ain't telling you where, it's not safe."

"Really?" Gum said. "So _you_ can use it again?"

"Don't you dare accuse him," Cube said, turning from Combo to Gum. "You've already screwed up his life –"

"Don't bother," Beat said. "She knows that. That's why she did it."

"We know you're guilty," Slate said. "I guess you've come back to convince us you aren't, but you can forget that."

"Fine." Gum got to her feet and walked towards the door. "I'll be off, then. Thanks for the friendly chat."

She'd just reached out to open it when they dragged her back.

"You _dare?" _Cube hissed, face white. "You dare just – just waltz out like that, acting like everything's okay? You think you can come in here and rifle through our stuff and then just walk out? Oh, no. You're gonna get it this time."

"You're gonna give me another black eye? Wow."

Cube held up a can of paint. "I don't need my fists when I've got this. Let's see…there's four of us. If we each have three cans, that'll give us enough."

"For what?" Combo asked.

"She wants to be a rudie, let's show her our customs," Cube snapped. "Show her what happens to people who step over the line. Give her a ten-tag makeover."

"You touch me with that and I'll break your face!" Gum shouted. "You've got no right to tag me! I haven't done anything!"

"You'll break my face like you broke Mew's?" Cube stepped closer. Her eyes were narrowed and dark, like claw marks. "I won't give you the chance."

"You know it has to be a chase," Gum snarled. "You know that as well as I do." She tried to stop her voice shaking. 

"We tried to get you out of here," Slate said. He was the one holding her arms, his fingers digging into her skin. "We told you we didn't want you. Now you end up, back here, sneaking around –"

"You didn't prove me guilty," Gum said. She had to keep talking. "It was circumstantial evidence. And why would I have tried to kill Tab? I –"

"I don't know." That was Beat. "Maybe you didn't mind him trying to help you 'cos it gave you some protection, but when he actually uncovered something you got bored of him."

"That's not true!"

Hands on her shoulders. Far back in her mind, a memory stirred.

"We don't like you," Cube said. "We don't want you around. Just because you had your heart broken is no excuse to start killing people."

Gum struggled to break free, and Cube slapped her, and woke up the memory.

_You're a bad girl…_

Running through the house…

She'd fallen, cut her knee…

_You're a bad girl and nobody likes you…_

Stop it! Gum's mind screamed. You're in the present now, that didn't happen, _that didn't happen!_

She forced herself to focus on Cube, on Combo, on the sunlight through the window. She was here and she was now and she was safe. 

Then she met Cube's eyes, and knew that last was wrong, at least.

"Don't do this," she said. "You'll only regret it."

"I will not." Cube looked away from her, towards Slate, and she felt herself pushed round, against the wall. The bare surface was rough against her face.

_Keep your mouth shut…I don't want to hear you speak…_

The first tag hit her back. 

"Stop it!"

_Your little finger looks so weird when it's broken…_

"Make me, killer."

Second tag. 

_You're nothing, you don't deserve anything, you brat…_

She struggled to free herself, but someone – maybe Slate – put their hand round her throat so she couldn't move without choking. She tried anyway, and the view started to flicker as he cut off her air supply.

"Hey, don't kill her!" Combo yelled.

"Why the hell shouldn't we?" Cube screamed it. "She didn't exactly hold back!"

Third, fourth, fifth tags. She could smell the paint as it stained her skin. 

_Not so different from the smell of blood…_

And now she couldn't stop fighting, knew that if she didn't she'd go crazy, knew they'd drag her down like they'd almost done five years ago…She screamed without knowing what she was saying, felt someone hit her again, once, twice, three times, she'd lost count of the tags now…

Suddenly Slate had been wrenched off her arms, she stumbled backwards and fell, looked up, saw Cube, sobbing, swing one skated foot at her…there was a dark explosion behind her eyes, and then everything faded away.


	8. 8

Chapter 08

(Disclaimer is obvious, I own Botan, please r+r!)

"Gen-chan?"

Not many people still called her that. 

She blinked. Light hit the back of her brain, and she slammed her eyes shut. 

Her head _hurt._

She felt weak all over. 

"Come on, Gen. Don't play dead on me."

"I'm not dead," she said. Her throat was so dry the words stuck in it.

"Well, that's something."

She blinked, blinked again, and Botan's face clicked into focus.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asked. "You were supposed to be searching for clues, not getting attacked by a bunch of psycho rudies."

"I was searching…" Gum said. "Then they came back. Why didn't you warn me?"

"I called when I saw 'em come down the street. You didn't do anything. I didn't want to call again in case you'd hidden and needed a low profile. Sorry."

Slowly Gum started to remember what had happened. The emotions seemed kind of frightening now. Everyone had been so angry. Including her.

"How did I get out?" she said. She was lying on something rough and furry. Above her was a familiar-looking stained ceiling.

"They dumped you on the street," Botan said. "A big black guy was carrying you. I picked you up and we rode back home."

"Did you see any of the others?"

"No. Just him. I think he knew I would help ya."

Gum sighed, let her head fall and stared at the ceiling. She could feel there was something wrong, something she hadn't remembered.

"Shit, what happened to your throat?" Botan touched it. It felt tender, bruised.

"Someone was stopping me escaping."

"Who?"

"I think it was Slate."

"If he could do that to you just cos you were fighting, what could he do to a girl who dumped him?"

"But…he was angry with me because he thought I murdered Mew…"

"Really? Or was he angry with you so everyone else would think you did?"

"I don't know," Gum said. 

"Why're you covered in paint, anyway?"

Suddenly she remembered.

"I – I – they –"

"What is it?" Botan sounded concerned. Gum bit back a sob as she remembered the haze of paint and pain and fury. 

"They derudiefied me," she said. "They tagged me ten times. I think…"

"Is that bad?"

"It means I'm not a rudie any more. It means I can't skate. I can't tag. I can't do anything."

"Your own gang put you out of the running?"

"Yeah. Swell, isn't it." She sat up, and gasped as her head throbbed. "Right. This is personal now. I'm finding that killer if it's the last thing I do."

"So is there anyone we can wash out?" Botan asked later. Gum was sipping some water, each swallow reverberating through her throat. 

"Everyone denies it," Gum said. "Combo admits Mew was his sister and he admitted he could have had a grudge against her. I still don't know why Garam and Piranha freaked out about Mew's bet, it doesn't seem like it's anything serious. Yo-Yo said he was innocent. Cube won't say anything…it could be her, I guess. Slate…well, he sure acts like he thinks it's me. Tab's out of it, I guess. Beat's out of it…but he's the one who hid the axe."

"Why was it under Garam and Piranha's bed?" Botan asked. Gum had updated him on all she'd found out. 

"I have no idea."

"Hey, you looked at that letter yet?"

Gum touched her chest, and heard the crackle of paper beneath her clothes. "Good point." 

She fished the letter out from beneath her dress, and read it.

__

Nice try, babe. Move far away. You thought I'd given up, didn't you? You thought you could forget me. Well, I've got news for you. You can't forget me. I probably sound a little strange…well, I've been through a lot. The last thing I needed was to see you, you turning into some freak, you leaving me. I'll get you I'll get you I'll get you

"Well, that's nice." She folded the letter up again. "What did Tab read, then?"

"You think these were to Mew?"

"Had to have been. She's the dead one."

Botan shrugged. "Doesn't shed much light on it. Except that it sounds like it's someone Mew used to know. 'Move far away.' Any of the GGs knew her before?"

"Only Combo, I think. Maybe Yo-Yo, they're both from Benten. If anyone else did, I don't know about it."

"Right," Botan said. "I think you and I need to have a little chat with your fishy friends."

"Huh?"

"Garam and Piranha, you doofus."

"Oh. Okay."

The streets of Benten glowed neon-bright, but the alley Gum and Botan waited in was flooded with shadow. Gum focused on her cousin's face, trying to ignore the unease stroking her neck. Someone was out there. Some killer. Someone who hated. 

"Here they come," Botan whispered.

Piranha and Garam were skating down the street, long black shadows tapering out behind them. They stayed close together, hand in hand, and Piranha kept glancing around behind them. 

"Ready?" Gum said to Botan.

"Of course."

As Garam and Piranha passed their hiding place, Botan reached out and grabbed Garam, dragging him back into the alley. Piranha screamed. Gum rushed forward and pulled her into the shadows, gripping her wrists.

"What the hell are you doing?" Garam gasped as he saw Gum. 

"I want answers," Gum snarled. "And I want them _now. _This is my cousin, by the way. He's not too happy about all this either. So I wouldn't lie if I were you."

She hadn't been sure whether she'd be able to do this, but now she knew she could. She was furious. 

"Let us go," Piranha gasped. "We didn't do anything, let us go…"

"Not until I've asked you some stuff. First of all, why was the axe under your bed?"

"What?" both rudies yelled.

"I had a look around in the house today. Under your bed is a bloodstained axe print. Any excuses?"

Piranha looked at Garam, her face changing from fear to fury. "You didn't. You didn't."

"I don't know what's going on!" Garam yelled. He struggled to get free, but Botan didn't even break a sweat. "I know nothing about that axe!"

"Really," Gum said. "What about you, Piranha?"

"Me? I didn't put it there!" Gum could feel Piranha's pulse pounding against her fingers. 

"Second question," Gum said. "Why didn't you want to do Mew's forfeit?"

"I'd rather not say," Piranha said.

Gum felt anger leap up inside her. "Listen," she said. "I have been kicked out of the gang. I've been beaten up. I've been strangled. I've been derudiefied. The guy I loved – love –" Tears stung her throat and she spoke even more fiercely to cover them. " – has been put in a coma. And these shoes pinch. I am going to find the killer. And you are not going to stop me. Now tell me why you didn't want to do the forfeit."

"It – it was streaking," Piranha said. "Streaking through Benten Square."

"Yes?"

"I didn't want to take all my clothes off."

"Why not?"

Piranha didn't answer.

"Stop it," Garam said. "Leave her alone."

"I won't spread it around," Gum said. "Nor will Botan." She spoke more gently. "But I've got no choice. If you guys assume I'm guilty, I have to fight to prove I'm innocent."

Piranha sighed. "All right."

She freed one arm from Gum's grip, and started to roll up the left leg of her flares. She stopped when her leg was bare up to the knee.

"There," she said. "You see?"

Gum swallowed.

It was a large, brutal scar, running from above her knee to the middle of her shin.

"Mew didn't know about it," Piranha said. "No one else does, only Garam. I guess you can figure out how. I didn't want to show it to people. I hate it. There was – there was a fire at my house. My family were killed. I survived with this. So that's why I didn't want to streak. I could go topless no trouble. But not that."

"She told me what Mew wanted her to do," Garam said. "I backed her up, I knew she shouldn't have to. I was mad when Mew threatened to make her quit. But I didn't kill her."

"Then what's the axe doing there?"

"I don't know! Someone must have put it there to frame us!" Piranha said, voice trembling. "I don't know anything about the axe and I don't think Garam does either – do you?"

"No. No, I don't."

"So who did it, then?" Gum asked. "I didn't. You guys didn't. Who did?"

Garam shrugged. "I just don't know. No one could hate Mew that much, surely."

Botan let go of him, and Gum released Piranha. 

"Thanks," Gum said. "Sorry about the shock tactics."

"Yeah, well…" Piranha sounded resigned. "I've just about given up on a normal life."

They skated away. 

"What do you think?" Botan said.

"I don't know what I think." Gum sighed. "Yet another motive – and yet another denial. I think I'm gonna go walk a bit. On my own."

"I'll meet you…uhh…let's say in the bus terminal? In an hour?"

Gum nodded. She glanced at her wrist, remembered she didn't have her watch, and sighed. "Okay. I'll see you later."

Botan went to find some fun in Benten. Gum headed back to Shibuya. And to the hospital.

She was sitting by Tab when the doctor came to speak to her. "You're his only relative, aren't you?"

"Yes." She tried to look truthful. 

"He was conscious for a short time today."

"Really? You're kidding!" The doctor was about forty years old and no Prince Charming, but she'd happily have kissed him.

"Your name is Gen, isn't it?"

"Yes. Only he calls me Gum, it's – uh – a kid nickname thing."

"I thought so. No, he mentioned you. He said something like 'I did it, you know. I tried to tell her but I couldn't.' "

Gum stared at him. 

"He – he said that?" she gasped at last.

"Yes. I was there at the time, and I said to him, 'It's all right, we can tell her,' and he said, 'it was so obvious, I suddenly realised…I had to do something…' And then he fell unconscious again."

"That's all he said?" No. No, this can't be happening.

"That's all. Why, is there something wrong?"

"I – I have to go," Gum gasped. "I'm sorry, I've just realised something…I have to go."

She turned and ran. The clock on the wall showed she still had half an hour before she could go and meet Botan. She didn't want to run out into the darkness on her own. Now her world really had been shaken upside down, and she didn't know what she might meet out there. But she couldn't just spend all that time pacing up and down the corridors.

She hurried back to the entrance, and was just trying to think where to go next when Beat walked through the door.

He looked surprised to see her, then his features hardened like ice. She didn't care. If she didn't talk to someone, she'd shatter.

"Beat," she gasped, "You've got to listen to me."

"Oh, yeah? Why?"

"Tab. Tab did it."

"What? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard." Beat shoved her. "He's – he's dying, don't pin it on him just cos he can't speak for himself!"

"He did! He told the doctor! He said, 'tell Gum I did it.' "

Beat scowled. "You're lying."

"I am not. You can ask him if you want."

"All right." Beat folded his arms. "If you're so damn clever, and Tab _is _the murderer, then why did someone try and kill him?"

"Maybe someone found out! Maybe Slate. Maybe you, even –"

"You shut up!"

"They found out he killed her and tried to give him some justice!"

"Then why didn't he let you get blamed in the first place?"

"Because – I don't know. Because he wanted to have some fun." She hated to say the words, hated to admit how stupid she'd been, but she had to think sensibly now. She couldn't let – love – muck up her mind.

"He wanted to pin it on somebody else, not me," she said. "That's why he tried to help me. Maybe he was angry that Mew broke you and me up." She couldn't stop speaking. "He killed Mew but then he didn't want me to get blamed so he tried to find proof it could be someone else. He wasn't scared to check the attic for a killer, was he? The night it happened? That's because he knew exactly where the killer was. Someone threatened me, and I never heard them leave, and then Tab came in. He found the letters. He –"

"Calm down." Beat spoke roughly, but she could see he looked more thoughtful. "It's an idea, I guess. Now look. I came to see him, so you can come too. See if he does wake up. If he does, we can ask him. So stop freaking out."

Gum followed him back towards the lift. As they stepped inside, Beat turned to face her.

"Listen," he said. "If I find out you're lying, I'll make you wish you'd never seen a can of spray paint. You hear me?"

"I get the point. You've already stopped me using skates. I'm not going to trust you again." She'd tried to wash the tags off the back of her clothes, but they were still there, faded, like old scars.

"Did we –" Beat looked away from her. "Did we actually tag you ten times?"

"I guess so. Didn't keep count. Had other things on my mind."

Beat shrugged. "I didn't realise Cube would be so upset. She wants to hurt you. I just want you to go away."

"Thanks."

The lift stopped, and they walked out. 

Tab lay still, looking like he wasn't in the same time zone as the rest of them. Gum heard Beat's breath catch in his throat. 

"What do we do?" she said. "He might not wake up today."

"We could try asking him, I suppose." Beat sat down next to the bed. "Tab? Can you hear us?"

"It's Gum. Gum and Beat." She sat down as well. "You wanted to talk to me, you said. What did you want to say?"

He didn't answer.

"This is useless," Gum said. "He's not gonna wake up."

"Give him a chance."

"How can I? I don't want to! If he did it, that means he let me stand by and get blamed, he caused you to beat me up, he caused me to get derudiefied, he ruined my life, and I trusted him, damn it, I trusted him! Just like I trusted you!" She could feel tears building behind her eyes and in her throat. "Why am I always so stupid?"

"Gum…"

It wasn't Beat who spoke. Both GGs turned to stare at Tab.

"Gum, listen, I…I sorted it out for you…I can help…I know…I…"

"What do you know?" Gum said, trying not to sound angry. "Do you know who the killer is?"

"Killer…I should've told you…I…it's…"

"Who?" Beat said. "Who is it?"

Tab didn't answer for a moment, then he said, "I tried…I tried to help…"

And then he blacked out again.

"Well, that's it, isn't it?" Gum said. "He tried to help me. He tried to do me a favour. Well, that's just great."

Beat looked just as depressed as she felt.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go tell the others."

The house was dark when they got back. Beat pushed open the door, Gum following, and walked over into the middle of the room where the other GGs were clustered.

"Guys, listen up," he said. "I've got an announcement to make."

"What's she doing here?" Cube hissed.

"If you just shut up and let me speak, I'll explain," Beat said. "We've found the killer. And it's not Gum."

"What?" everyone yelled.

"Who is it, then?" Yo-Yo asked.

"It's…" Beat closed his eyes a second. "It's Tab."

"Tab's in hospital," Slate said.

"He admitted it. I heard him. He killed Mew to try and help Gum."

"And then what did he do?" Garam asked. "Cut his own head open?"

"Someone found out and tried to kill him," Beat said. "I don't know who. But one of us. Whoever it was may as well start talking. We won't punish you."

There was silence.

"I don't believe you," Slate said at last.

"Why not?" Gum demanded.

"Because it's stupid. Why didn't he just let you take the blame?"

"Because…" Gum suddenly didn't want to think any more. "Because he…he cared for me."

"Yeah, right," Cube snapped.

"Shut up."

Piranha's voice cracked like a whip.

"I talked to him. The day Gum found out about Beat and Mew. He said he felt bad about that. Really bad. He said something about a girl Gum beat up, how she was expelled for it…"

"So?" Gum snapped. "Don't bring up ancient history now."

"Listen. He watched it happen. Him and his mates. He saw you get cornered by this girl, saw her push you until you snapped, saw how you got expelled and beaten up by your parents –"

"Shut up, Piranha!" Gum heard hysteria in her voice. She wished the other GGs would stop looking at her.

"Gum, he never got over it!" Piranha walked over to Gum, stared into her eyes. "He kept thinking he should have done something to help you, should have stopped it happening. My guess is when he saw how upset you were about Beat and Mew, he knew he couldn't let history repeat itself. That's why he did it."

"Well…well, what do we do now?" Cube said, sounding subdued. 

"Gum, you can have your rudieship back," Beat said. "And you can come back into the GGs."

"But what about Tab?" Cube asked. "Who attacked him, and what are we gonna do with him now?"

"He mightn't wake up," Beat said. "If he doesn't we can move on."

"If he does?"

"We confront him."

"But who tried to ice him?" Garam asked.

Silence again.

"If it wasn't for the way he was hurt, I'd suggest it was suicide," Beat said. "But…surely you can't chop yourself in the back of the head."

"What does it matter who chopped him?" Cube snapped. "He deserved it. Let's just forget it all."

Beat sighed. "All right. Any objections?"

When no one answered, he turned to Gum. "I'm sorry. Welcome back."

"Thank you." Gum knew she should be happy, but she wasn't. "If you don't mind, I think I'd like to be alone."

She walked up the stairs into the bedroom, dropped down on the bed. Now was the time to be angry, she knew. But she wasn't. She didn't really know what she was.

It was dark. His clothes were still scattered across the floor. It seemed years ago that they'd lain here, on this bed, that he'd made her happy. 

She reached down, picked up his T-shirt, hugged it to her. No one would see. No one would mind, this once, if she showed a last bit of affection to a killer.

(This is _not _the end. All feedback welcome, but this is not the end!)


	9. 9

Chapter 09

(I own Botan, no one else. Please r+r!)

Gum opened her eyes as the sunlight fell across them. Somehow she'd got through the night.

She was in the GG house, and she was a rudie again. 

And Tab was a murderer.

She sat up. She hadn't got undressed the night before, and her clothes felt like they were made of cardboard and her mouth tasted stale.

Suddenly she heard a loud knock on the front door, and a voice yelled, "Gen! Gen, are you in there?"

Botan. She knew she should go and see him, but she couldn't be…couldn't be bothered.

Voices, footsteps, a door hitting the wall, someone coming up the stairs.

The bedroom door flew open, and Botan stormed in.

"Thanks for meeting me," he said.

"Sorry. I forgot."

"Why're you back here, anyway? Thought they hated your guts."

"We found out who the killer was and they let me back in again."

"So? Who is it?"

Gum rolled over so she didn't have to look at him, and said, trying to sound casual, "Tab."

"What?"

"He was conscious for a short time. He admitted it. He did it to help me."

"You're kidding."

"I am not, do you hear me?"

"But…he was your friend. You telling me he let you get blamed?"

"Just shut up!" Gum screamed so loud her throat hurt. "Accept it, and then go back to your stupid Riders group and your ugly flat and your pathetic life, and get out of mine!"

Botan's face hardened. "Fine."

He turned on his heel and walked out.

Gum lay flat on the bed, trying to shrink into it. If she did, maybe her feelings would shrink too, and she wouldn't have to notice them any more.

Footsteps.

"Gum? Are you okay?"

Beat pushed the door open.

"I'm fine."

Beat sat down on the bed next to her.

"I can't handle it either," he said.

Gum didn't answer. You can talk all you like, she thought, but you have others you can trust. They never suspected you.

"I hate the person who did it. I mean, I hate them more than I've ever hated anyone in my life. But Tab's my best friend. I didn't…I didn't want to believe it…but when I heard him I – I knew I had to."

Gum felt tears well up inside her throat. 

"Gum?" Beat said. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Mew. I shouldn't have done that to you."

"That's all right," Gum choked out.

"Ah, come on…" He helped her sit up, put an arm round her shoulders. "It'll be okay."

Gum looked at him. "It will not."

"It will. It'll take time but we will get over this."

"You think?" She knew she was being stupid. She didn't need him to give her clichés. But then they were all she had.

"Yeah."

She kissed him.

And it didn't work. It didn't make her tremble or her heart pound or her face flush or anything. It was just pressing her lips against someone else's.

Beat pulled away from her. "Gum, no."

"You said you were sorry," she said, wishing she didn't sound so bratty.

"I am. But I can't just pretend I didn't love Mew."

They stared at each other for a few moments. Then he said, "I'd better go. Come down and tag later, okay?"

And she was alone again. 

You are so stupid, she thought to herself.

"Guys! Guys, come here!"

Garam. He sounded freaked.

Gum sat up. 

"What is it?" Beat said.

"Look."

There was a pause, then Beat muttered something, and called, "Everyone get over here!"

Gum walked out of the room and hurried down to the ground floor. She couldn't see the other GGs, then realised they were clustered under the stairs.

"What is it?" she said as she approached them.

Garam stepped back. Behind him there was a small door set into the wall under the stairs. It was half-open and she could see a flight of steps disappearing down into darkness.

"I tripped over Potts," Garam said. "I fell and landed against this, knocked it open. We didn't search here. Someone could be down there…"

There was a long and horrible pause.

"No," Beat said. "No, I know it was Tab."

"We'd better just check, though," said Piranha. "Right?"

"Someone get a torch," Beat said. 

"Do we have to?" Yo-Yo inched away from the door. 

"Yes. Come on, gummi bear."

Slate came back with a torch, and the GGs crept forward.

The beam of light picked out dusty stairs, uncarpeted…speckled with damp footprints.

"Oh, my lord…" Piranha whispered.

"Has anyone ever been down here before?" Beat asked. 

Silence.

Gum could smell old water, bitter and dirty in her nostrils. This must have flooded like the garage had. Surely no one could be living here. Surely. 

But if they were, Tab could be innocent…

Slate stopped and shone the torch onto the swirling water that cut off the last few steps. "It's kinda damp."

"Shallow enough to walk through?"

"I think so." He stepped forward. The torch beam flew out, stroked the stained walls, the rippling floor.

"Yeah, it's okay."

"Come on, then, guys," Beat said, following him down.

There wasn't much in the basement. Just a few old boxes, a fireplace, and some broken chairs. 

"I think we're okay," Beat said at last. "I don't think anyone was down here."

"But what about the footprints?" Piranha said.

Beat didn't answer.

When they were all back in the light again, he slammed the door shut. "Right. So that was a false alarm. Okay?"

"It would be if it wasn't for the footprints," Garam said.

"They were footprints, right? Not skate prints?" Gum remembered the prints she'd seen in her bedroom.

"Definite shoe imprints," Slate said. He still spoke to her like he didn't quite trust her. Gum kept wanting to hit him.

"None of us wear shoes," Piranha said. "Skates, or bare feet. That's it. Does anyone even have shoes?" 

"Gum, you had trainers on while you were…" Slate stopped as Gum glared at him.

"And whose fault was that?" she snapped.

"Anyway, Gum only had those on after she left the building," Beat said.

"She came back," Cube said.

"Well, I didn't even know this place existed," Gum said. "So it wasn't me who made those prints."

"Hey, settle down," Beat said. "No one's accusing you. But is this definite proof that someone's in here that shouldn't be?"

"I guess so." Cube sighed. She looked worried.

"Well, let's see what happens," Combo said. "Ain't been no more attacks yet."

"Oh, so we wait till someone else gets their head chopped open?" Cube snapped at him. "Nice going!"

"Stop it," Beat said. "Come on. Let's go out."

Gum didn't know how she'd ended up going tagging with Cube, but she knew one thing. The Gothic GG wasn't pleased to have her along. Not pleased at all.

They tagged Park Street in stony silence. Cube didn't even glance at Gum.

"What's with you?" Gum said at last as they started on the playground.

Cube ignored her.

Gum felt her temper rise. She grabbed Cube's shoulder and pushed her back against the side of the elephant slide. "Stop giving me the silent treatment. I thought you were more mature than that!"

"All right," Cube snapped. "I don't trust you one inch. Only you and Beat saw Tab's supposed confession. I think it's shit of you to try and pin it on someone who could be dying."

"So you still think I did it?"

"Yeah. And so does Slate."

"You bitch," Gum hissed.

"Even if Tab did do it I bet you had a hand in it. Encouraged him somehow."

"I knew nothing about it, okay?"

"If you say so."

It was the echo of 'liar' in her voice that did it. Before Gum could think, she'd slapped the other GG so hard her hand tingled. Cube stood there, staring, eyes like black fire, and then she moved like an ebony snake. 

Cube's hand glanced off Gum's face, sending a stinging pain through the top layer of skin. Gum stumbled, her skates slipping in the muddy ground, and Cube caught the front of her dress.

"Listen," the GG snarled. "You've done enough already. How dare you hit me? How dare you? You found out you'd lost your guy and you killed her, you killed the –"

She stopped.

"What?" Gum said. "Forgot your lines?" She shook Cube off her. "First, I didn't kill Mew. Second, I didn't know anything about Tab doing it. Third, I don't know why you'd care. It's not like you and Mew liked each other or anything. In fact, I think she hated you."

It was a lie, but she was tired of the accusations now. She was going to hit where it could hurt.

And it did hurt. Cube's face whitened until it looked like bone. 

Then she attacked.

Gum went over backwards and landed in the mud. She felt Cube's skate hit her ribs, and curled up like a hedgehog as the pain lanced through her chest. "Keep your mouth shut," Cube said, her shoulders rising and falling as she stared down at Gum. 

"Why the hell should I?"

"Just don't talk about her!" Cube's voice trembled. 

"What is with you?" Gum said. "You're acting like you're nuts!"

"Maybe I am and this is all a dream," Cube said. "I don't know. The one thing I don't need is _you _talking about it all."

"And the one thing _I_ don't need is you accusing me of things I didn't do!" Gum yelled.

Cube glared down at her, biting her lip. Finally she said, "I don't think we should carry on with this little outing. I'm going home."

And she skated away.

Gum picked herself up. She could feel mud all over the back of her dress. 

What is with her? she thought. Can't she just accept it wasn't me? If she wants to hurt someone, why not go and hurt Tab? She winced inside at the thought of him being hurt, but tried to ignore that. He deserved it. He'd killed Mew and he'd got her kicked out. She wasn't sorry for him and she didn't care about him a bit. 

But had he done it? Had he really taken that axe – seen Mew standing there – brought it down on her face – let her scream – he couldn't have done – Mew's face shimmered in front of her eyes, bloody, shattered, smelling of death – 

Gum rushed behind the elephant slide and threw up.

When she'd finished she didn't feel any better. Emptying her body didn't empty her mind. 

And it was all his fault.

"Right," she said out loud. "I'll go and see him one more time. And then I'll never look at his sick, twisted, ugly face again."

He was still unconscious. 

Gum could feel her rage starting to fade, starting to melt into pity. If only he'd wake up.

"No," she whispered. "No, I don't want you to wake up. If you wake up, I'll have to speak to you. And I don't want to. I don't want to talk to you because of what you did."

The fact that he couldn't answer back just made her feel more furious. She wanted a reaction. She wanted to hurt. She wanted to show him how it felt to be injured and frightened and hated.

"I never loved you," she said. "And if you loved me you'd have admitted it. You wouldn't have put me through this. It's all your fault this happened." Now she wasn't even trying to be rational, she was just spewing out everything she could think of that might hurt him. "You're stupid. You're ugly, it would make me sick to have to go out with you, you gave me the worst fuck I've ever had…" 

Tears were blurring him, washing him out of her view.

"Why did you do this? Why did you wreck my life like this? You don't understand anything, you thought I'd like it if you killed her, you must be crazy, yeah, you're crazy, you're crazy –"

_You're crazy, Hokusai Gen…_

Gum slammed a hand over her mouth so hard that it hurt her teeth.

Tab lay still, placid, undisturbed, as though he didn't care what she'd just said to him. Gum wanted him to care. She wanted him to want her to like him, wanted him to value her opinion.

"I hate you," she said at last. Her voice sounded weak, creaky, worn out by tears. 

She was not weak.

"I hate you," she said louder. "I hate you! _I hate you!"_

She heard it ring through the building, echoing on and on, like church bells, like something scratched into a desk…_Hokusai Gen hates Shinsai Taro…_

Only they'd stopped calling each other Gen and Taro when they were about eight. 

And do you remember when you played tag on your skates, when you were kids? And you fell over when he was chasing you, cut your knee…there had been pieces of grit stuck in it like chocolate chips in a cookie…you were wearing a T-shirt with a pattern of frogs on it, two sizes too small and covered in red dust…

And you hate him. 

Gum couldn't look at him, whether through shame or fear or anger she didn't know.

She got up and ran.

"Chinese tonight," Garam said. "Any volunteers to go get it?"

"I'll go," Gum said. The atmosphere sucked at the moment. Cube and Slate kept glaring at her, Beat had disappeared upstairs, and the other GGs were huddled against the walls of the house like miserable rats. And she kept hearing the way she'd screamed at Tab, _you're crazy, you're crazy…_

"Who wants what?" she said.

"Anything'll be fine with me," Piranha said. "I don't mind."

"Yeah, me too," Cube said. "As long as it doesn't have arsenic or cyanide in, then great!"

"Just leave her alone," Garam snapped. "She's not guilty and that's that. Just cos you can't hurt the real killer –"

"Have some sushi," Cube retorted. "Fish helps build up the brain."

Gum walked over to the stairs. "Beat? What about you?"

"I'm not hungry," a distant voice replied. "Just leave me alone."

"Maybe he don't trust your food either," Slate said from behind her.

"Either you shut up," Combo growled, "or I make you shut up."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, if dat's what it takes." Combo got to his feet.

"Guys, please," Piranha said, hurrying in between them. "Listen. Combo, what do you want to eat?"

Combo stepped back, but the tension didn't go away. Gum could feel it, thickening the air, making it flammable. One wrong word and they'd all go up in flames.

At last everyone had ordered except Cube.

"Well?" Gum snapped. "Or do you just want to go without?"

"I don't talk to killers," Cube said.

"Cube, for god's sake, just order already!" Garam snapped.

"I don't trust her."

"Listen, just cos you're feeling mad about Mew –" Combo began.

"And why the hell shouldn't I?" Cube screamed at him. "Are you saying it's okay to forget it all?"

"Gum didn't do it!" Combo slammed down his ghetto-blaster and charged over to her.

"I'll believe that when Onishima starts skating!"

"Listen, you dumb idiot, just because you and Mew –"

Cube slapped him. "Shut up. Shut up now, I mean it."

"I'm not gonna shut up! You may as well let 'em know that you –"

"Shut up!"

"That you're a –"

"Keep your mouth shut, nigger!" Cube's voice reached hysteria point.

There was a long, long silence. Cube stood there, gasping for breath, one hand raised to her mouth. Gum wondered if saying that felt as bad as when she'd realised she sounded like Nara when she screamed at Tab.

Garam and Piranha both tensed.

"Let me out of here," Piranha said at last.

"Me too." Garam followed her across to the door and they both dashed out.

"I'm sorry," Cube whispered.

Combo didn't answer her. Instead he picked up his ghetto-blaster, and followed Garam and Piranha out into the night.

Slate got to his feet and dashed over to the radio. He snapped it on, and 'Magical Girl' filled the room.

Gum sighed. Tab always said that was her song. He'd joked once she'd have to have it playing at her wedding and her funeral. 

Damn, why did she have to remember that? Why, why, why?

"I'll go and get the food," she said at last.

"Why bother? None of them're gonna come back to eat it." Slate didn't look at her.

"Well, I'm getting it anyway."

Outside there was no sign of Garam, Piranha or Combo. Gum wasn't surprised. More hate. The air in the house had seemed full of it, black vapour sticking to your hair and clothes. She fought down the urge to go and scrub herself.

Cube would have to do a lot of smooth talking to get her out of this one. Serves her right.

Had she ever called Combo that before? Not since she'd been a GG. 

She must be tense.

Gum headed to the takeaway place on the corner. It was small and warm, with red lanterns hanging from the ceiling and outside over the sign. She ordered, and then walked back outside, the foil containers of food sweating spicy warmth into her hands.

She was about halfway back when someone grabbed her arm.

"Get off!" She just managed not to drop the food. 

"Gen, it's me."

She turned. "Botan?"

Remembering how she'd spoken to him, she blushed.

"Listen, I've been thinking –"

"I'm sorry I screamed at you, okay?"

"Forget it. This is about your little slasher problem."

"Huh?"

"You thought Tab did it, right?" 

"He did. I heard him say so."

"Just listen, Gen. Come and sit down."

Gum sighed, and let him lead her to a bench. She sat down, resting the food on her lap, and said, "This better be good."

"Tab motivated you to find the killer, right? He offered to help you, and kept you going strong, refused to admit you might be it."

"So?"

"Who was the guy who hit you in the night? The one who said he'd seen you do it? The one who ordered you not to ask any more questions?"

"Tab. He came in and the other guy didn't go out."

"Tab gets you interested in finding the crook in the first place and then comes in, punches you in the mouth and orders you to stop looking?"

"Maybe he was doing some kinda double bluff," Gum said. "You know, make her think I'm on her side, then be someone else that isn't."

"Gen, that's dumb."

"Well, I know it was him, okay? He said it was."

"Doesn't the fact that he stuck up for you mean anything?"

Gum tried to ignore that. 

"You said he said he stuck up for you because you were friends. You're friends and you're lovers. And you won't believe him."

"Botan, just leave me alone." Gum got to her feet. "I have to go."

"Fine," Botan called as she walked away. "Don't pay him back for all he did to help you."

"You shut up and keep out of my business."

He didn't answer her this time.

When she got back to the garage the atmosphere was even worse. The only two GGs present were Yo-Yo, who was playing pinball in a depressed way, and Slate, who was leaning against the sound system. He looked up as Gum came in, then away.

"Where's everyone else?" Gum asked.

"Let's see. Piranha and Garam came back and they're upstairs comforting each other, Combo's out in town somewhere, Cube said she's going back to stay at the garage because everyone hates her, Beat's upstairs, Mew's dead, and Tab's in a coma. Satisfied?"

Gum put the food down on top of the sound system and opened a container of sweet and sour pork. Starting to eat it, she said, "Slate, why do you still think I'm the murderer?"

"Because you're the most likely suspect." He didn't look at her.

"What about Tab?"

"I don't believe Tab would do that."

"What about if you'd heard him confess?"

"I don't believe he did that either. I think you misinterpreted it."

"Oh, really?" Gum snapped. The food was dry in her mouth, anger removing the taste. "Well, excuse me, Mr Detective. Perhaps you can tell me who the killer is."

"She's standing right in front of me."

Gum fought the urge to march up and tip a container of rice over his head. "Slate, that line is boring."

"Sorry, but it's the truth."

"You and Cube have been sitting there day after day talking about nothing but how guilty I am, haven't you?"

Slate didn't answer.

"Well, I've got news for you. I didn't do it and I don't care if you don't listen to me, because I know I didn't do it."

"You're one to talk about not listening," Slate said. "You and Beat heard one line from a guy in a coma and now you've decided he's guilty. You're not exactly any fairer than I am."

Gum tried to think of a retort, but she couldn't come up with one. Suddenly she was tired of arguing. 

"I'm going upstairs," she snapped.

"Well, Piranha and Garam are in their room and I think Beat's in the other one."

"He can just get out of it, then."

Forgetting the food, she turned and marched upstairs, and banged on the bedroom door. 

"Go away," Beat muttered from behind it.

"Where the hell am I supposed to go, then?"

"I don't know and I don't care." Beat's voice was thick with misery. Gum would have felt sorry for him, but she was too frustrated.

"Fine," she shouted. "I'll just stay in the attic, then."

"You do that." 

Gum turned to walk up the ladder, rage boiling under her skin.

Suddenly there was a bang on the front door.

"Who's there?" Yo-Yo called, his voice shaking.

"Gum's cousin. I wanna talk to her."

"Botan, leave me alone!"

"Gen, this is important. I've got some news."

Gum stomped down the stairs and tore open the door. "What? And make it quick or I'll –"

"Gen, he's woken up."

"What?"

"Tab has come out of his coma."


	10. 10

Chapter 10

(Well, you know the drill…please r+r! Interesting to see the diverse range of opinions of Tab's guilt or lack of it. All will be revealed…sooner or later…)

The streets had darkened as Botan dragged Gum along the pavement.

"I don't…see why I need…need to see him," she gasped. They'd been running like this ever since they'd left the garage, and her lungs were starting to complain.

"Tough. He needs to see you."

"Is he…is he fully conscious and all?"

"Not totally. Tired, woozy you might say, but he awakes and eats and stuff like that."

"I don't…I don't want to see him…I hate him…"

"Stop deluding yourself, Gen."

"None…none of the others came."

"So you should. As far as he knows, you're his girl."

"I'm not…" She wanted to shout it, but the dashing was robbing her of enough breath.

They reached Shibuya General and Botan dragged her up the steps.

"You can let go of me now," Gum said as they reached the waiting room. 

"Nuh-uh. Sorry, cuz, but I don't trust you an inch. We're gonna see Tab whether you like it or not."

Gum glowered as he led her towards the lift.

"You didn't ask whether we could see him or not," she said as they stepped inside.

"That's because I was there when he woke. Doc told me to go find you. As his grieving sister, we knew you'd be overcome with joy."

Gum scowled at him. 

"Now listen," Botan said. "I heard two other GGs talking. Beat and Garam, I think it was. They said if he did come out of his coma…well, what d'you think they'd do?"

"Tag him ten times and kick him out the GGs."

"Wrong. First they tag him ten times. Then they kick him out the GGs. Then they give Onishima a call."

"What?" Gum just managed to keep her voice down from a yell. 

"He's a murderer, ain't he? Onishima would love getting a rudie for more than just vandalism. Tab'd go to jail for a large portion of his life, the GGs would be safe from the axe murderer, and you'd be all right, because he couldn't come near you."

Gum looked down at her skates. She suddenly felt very cold.

"Cube and Slate wanted to do that to you," Botan said. "After they'd smashed your skull. I can see why Slate hates you, he still holds a torch for Mew. But why Cube?"

"She's pissed I fooled her," Gum said, sentences forming on autopilot. "That she stuck up for a guilty person. I guess."

The lift stopped. They walked out into the corridor.

Botan shrugged. "Well, that's the latest GG news."

"They – they would have sent me to jail?" Gum said, voice shaking.

"Yep. If Tab hadn't spoken up for you, I bet you'd have been in there right now."

"Now you're just laying on the guilt."

"Of course."

They were nearly there now. Gum wanted to turn and run. What if he'd heard what she'd screamed at him? What if he _was _guilty? What if he got sent to jail? What if he didn't like her any more? The questions rattled around in her head, stinging her skull.

And then they'd got there.

Tab was sitting up, reading a dull-looking magazine. He looked perfectly normal, she'd seen him read things millions of time, but now she wanted to cheer and clap and cry all at the same time, because he wasn't lying there dying, he was safe, he was alive…

But she hated him, right?

"Tab?" she whispered.

"I'll go…uhh…rob a vending machine or something," Botan said. "Now don't kill him."

Tab glanced up, and grinned as he saw her. "Hey, Gum, what happened?"

He sounded tired, weak, but cheerful – alive at last – 

She wanted to go close to him, but something held her back. 

"When?" she said at last.

"The last thing I knew, we were dozing off together after the best night of my life…and then I wake up here. Spill the beans."

"Someone chopped you over the head with an axe."

"Okaaay…" Tab leant back, closed his eyes a moment. "Someone tried to kill me. Any thoughts on who?"

"Well, you killed Mew." Gum heard her voice turn spiteful. "A lot of people didn't like that."

"What?" Tab yelled. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You killed her! I heard you say so!"

"Uh – when?"

"When you were in this coma. You said, 'Gum, I sorted it out for you…I tried to help…it was so obvious…' Something like that."

"And you take that to assume I'm a murderer?"

"The doctor said you said you did it!"

"I didn't. I did not do it." He'd gone pale. "I didn't."

"Well, Beat thinks you did. He heard you say so. He and Garam say they'll have you arrested if you wake up."

"Hearing all this I think I'd like to go back to sleep," Tab groaned. "You're kidding, right?"

"I don't joke about stuff like this."

"Look, I think I know who did it, and it wasn't me."

"Well, who was it then?"

"It was…" Tab stopped. "I won't say now…too many accusations…go find Cube, okay?"

"Why? She still thinks it was me."

"If the killer is who I think it is, she's in real danger."

"What?" Gum stared at Tab, her stomach freezing. "But…she had a big fight with Combo…she's gone back to the garage on her own…"

"Where did she have the fight? And where were you told that?"

"In the house. Why?"

"Shit!" Tab punched the mattress. "Look, the house has a basement, doesn't it."

"How did you –"

"Those chimneys act as…you know…echo chambers…you must have noticed when you were up in your room you could hear what the guys were saying downstairs."

"Yeah – you mean – someone's been eavesdropping on everything?"

"Give the girl a prize. Listen. Go find Cube. Ask her about Mew, make her tell you everything. And if she won't, mention that you know about The Classy Lassy Hi-Jinx Babe Emporium."

_"What?"_

"Just do it!" Tab snapped. "I read it in a letter. She's in danger. If you can't get her to believe that, at least get her to come back to the house where she'll be with other people."

"All right." Baffled, she stood up.

"And Gum –" Tab looked up at her. "Whatever you do, be careful."

It was late now.

Gum ran through the darkened streets, mind humming as she tried to work out what was going on. Cube was in danger. But why? Who would want to kill her? The only person who had a real difference of opinion with her was Tab, and he was at the hospital.

And Combo, of course. And Garam and Piranha. But surely none of them would murder Cube. And anyway, Tab hadn't known what had happened between Cube and Combo. He'd been talking about something else. And someone else.

She skated through the puddles, black water flying out around her feet. 

Of course, he could be wrong. He could have jumped to conclusions. Or maybe the situation had changed while he'd been in his coma.

Then why was she hurrying?

There it was. The garage loomed up in front of her, looking bigger now than when she'd left it. Bigger and darker.

She felt spots of rain start to patter onto her skin. Thunder growled above her.

She walked up to the garage, and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a voice called from within.

"Gum."

"What do you want?"

"Can I come in? There's something I need to tell you."

She waited, then the door opened, and Cube faced her.

The Gothic GG's eyes were red-rimmed. Gum swallowed. Cube hardly ever cried. 

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Well, what do you think?" Cube snapped. "I just told my oldest friend he's – he's – something I thought I'd never say. I feel like shit. He and Garam and Piranha are never gonna speak to me again."

Gum followed her back inside. There were no lights on inside, but she had a feeling the water had gone down a little. 

"Listen," she said. "Tab's come out of his coma. And he thinks you're in danger."

"What? What are you talking about?" 

"He said to ask you about Mew. He said you knew something you're not telling us."

Cube's face whitened. Her patches of bare skin were all that could be seen in the night. 

"I don't know what he's on, but he's wrong," she said. "There's nothing to tell."

"Really?" Gum let a 'liar' tone enter her voice.

"Yes, really!"

"Then I suppose the –" She hoped she could remember it. "Classy Lassy High-Jinx Babe Emporium means nothing to you."

She heard Cube gasp, "How the hell did you –"

Then she stopped.

"Just spill." Gum tried to remain calm. "Who's the killer?"

"I don't know!" Cube yelled. "But it wasn't me!"

Gum grabbed her shoulders. "What's the story?"

"There isn't one! I haven't done anything! I haven't –"

She stopped.

"What is it?" Gum asked. "Suddenly realised you have?"

Cube was staring over Gum's shoulder, squinting slightly – 

Then her face crystallised into horror.

"Cube, what –"

Cube wrenched herself away from Gum's arms, turned to run – then part of the shadows around them seemed to form a figure, an axe flew up, the flat of it came down on Cube's head – the GG dropped like a stone.

Gum wanted to scream, but she couldn't move.

"You're the killer," she whispered to the figure behind her.

"I guess so."

She turned.

(And that appears to be the end of the chapter. Heh, heh, heh…tune in next week for the conclusion! The more reviews, the quicker that will be! Pleeease put in your reviews who you think the killer is, I really want to see whether I've been too obvious or anything. I'd really appreciate it!)


	11. 11

Chapter 11

(Ooh. The chapter in which all is revealed. Ooh. R+r please!)

It wasn't anyone she recognised – or so it seemed. She squinted at the shadows where the face was, trying to make it out.

"Here." He handed her a torch. Her fingers were shaking so badly it took her several tries to switch it on. When she did, the light burnt her eyes and dazzled her for a few seconds before she could see.

The light glowed on a male face, tired and worn, a fat scar coursing down the cheek like a slug. The eyes were the worst. If Chizu's hadn't been able to decide on their colour, these couldn't decide on their feelings. Hate fought with love which grappled with terror and anger.

"Who are you?" she gasped.

"Maybe you should ask _her_ that." He indicated Cube.

Gum dropped down next to her. The GG was still conscious, but she was dizzy, just able to keep her face from slipping into the water.

"Who is it?" Gum whispered.

"Coin…" Cube groaned.

"Cube, we're not in Grind City now."

"Don't patronise me," Cube snapped. "It's Coin, I know it is. I don't know what's happened to him, I don't know what the hell is going on, but I know his face."

"Don't you have any pictures any more?" the guy said. "Or did you burn them all and hold a bonfire party when I finally left you alone?"

"There's one pinned up on the wall…" Cube gasped. "Go have a look, Gum."

Gum could see blood, smeared from the wound the axe had made on her forehead. It didn't look too deep. Maybe they'd get out of here.

Maybe Onishima would learn how to skate.

She walked through the water to the far wall where the GGs pinned up most of the pictures of the gang. There was one faded one of Triple-C, Cube on the right, Combo on the left, Coin in between them, further back. He was grinning, a charming smile with a slight hint of conceit, his baseball cap crooked. 

Gum detached the picture from the wall and carried it over to the other two. She held the torch up, and glanced from the photo to the intruder.

It was frightening when she realised Cube was right.

"What's wrong?" Coin said. "People change, you know."

"You never accepted that," Cube snapped. 

He kicked out at her, and she shrank back as water hit her face. 

"You killed Mew?" Gum said. 

"Yes."

"You bastard!" Cube snarled. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you so crazy you kill all girls with dark hair?"

"It was nothing to do with your hair, Cube-chan. I suppose you want the story now."

"It would be nice," Gum said, trying not to sound sarcastic. If we get out of this alive, she thought, I'll never, ever hate anyone again. 

If we don't get out of this alive I'll never get the chance.

Cube lay on her side in the water, her teeth chattering. Her face was really white now, dripping, like snow. The blood was as black as her hair was.

Coin was shivering too. Gum glanced at his feet. His skates were gone, his feet trapped in a pair of trainers even more decrepit than hers had been. 

"Well?" she said. "Gonna tell me where it all began?"

"The Devil's Contract," Coin said. "Found it. Got hold of it from some wacky record dealer. I didn't like it too much, decided to try and sell it. The Golden Rhinos were the only takers."

He shifted his grip on the axe. The blade glinted. It was clean now. Gum prayed it would stay that way. How much did it hurt to be chopped up – oh, god –

"I found out…I found out what they wanted to do with it. I went to a friend of mine, another guy who was into records, and told him to get it away from here, break it up, not to let them get their hands on it. This was the morning…that night I was supposed to sell it to the Rhinos. I wanted to get out of there right then, but I…I thought if I did, they might take it out on Cube and Combo, they might hurt them…I couldn't let that happen. So I acted normal, that night they went out on a tagging spree by moonlight, right, Cube? I made some excuse and stayed behind."

"You…you did what?" Cube said. "You deliberately didn't escape?"

He didn't answer. 

"So what happened next?" Gum asked.

"They came. They asked for the record. I told them I hadn't got it. They asked why. I told them I knew what they'd do with it, I wouldn't let them have it, so damn idealistic…they didn't like that."

"Your collection," Cube said. 

"Yeah. They smashed it in front of my eyes. Well, that hurt, but I pretended it didn't. I pretended I didn't care. I thought I could take on the world."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Cube sat up. The effort made her gasp, but she made it, a slim black and white figure rising above the water. "Why didn't you let us help you?"

"I didn't want you to get involved!" Coin shouted. "I didn't want to hurt you, either of you…Combo was my best friend, and you…I would do anything for you, you know that. I'd die for you."

Cube was crying now, silently, tears staining her already damp face.

"They took me away from Bantam Street," Coin said, and his face seemed to darken. "To one of their HQs. They tried to make me tell them what I'd done with that record."

Almost unconsciously, one hand brushed the scar on his face.

"That wasn't much fun."

Silence a moment. Outside the rain rattled against the windows. 

"Eventually I gave in. I told them who I'd given the record to. I hoped he'd got rid of it. I guess they traced him."

"But how did you get here?" Gum asked.

"The Rhinos…some of them thought it'd be best to kill me. Then one pointed out if I was lying, they'd be back to square one. They drugged me, took me along with them. I don't remember much about that."

"So – when Goji set off the Devil's Contract, you were here all along?" Gum said.

"Got it in one. I wasn't in Rokkaku Tower…lucky for me…I was…someplace else. When the whole thing was screwed up…Goji dead…the Rhinos arrested…they all forgot about me. I managed to escape…I needed to find Cube and Combo."

"Please, don't say anything else," Cube said, voice drowning out the furious rain outside. "I know what happened. Just stop there. Please."

"Why, you haven't told them what you are?" Coin shouted. "You surprise me. You certainly wanted me to know, didn't you, you low cheap whore…"

Cube was crying for good now. 

"Combo tried to spill the beans tonight," Coin said more quietly. "That's why you called him what you called him. I bet he won't forgive you for that. And the others won't forgive you for what you've done."

"What? So she lost her temper with Combo," Gum said. "She's stressed."

"I'm not talking about that," Coin snapped. "I'm talking about Cube going to the cheapest, seediest, tackiest whorehouse in Tokyo-to."

"The Classy Lassy place?" Gum said.

Cube nodded.

"You see, I escaped," Coin said. "I was pretty out of it…they'd kept me asleep for a long time, and I didn't know what to do. I thought if I could find the rest of Triple-C, I'd be okay."

"So why didn't you?" Gum asked.

"I saw her." Coin kicked some more water at Cube, who had buried her face in her hands. "I wanted to run, catch up with her, but then I thought. I didn't look my best at the time, I wanted to make her happy to see me, not freaked out. So I followed her."

"And she went to…"

"She went to the Babe Emporium in Benten-cho. I wondered if she was working there, I knew they didn't offer guys."

"Was she?"

"No." Coin's face darkened. "She was enjoying the services provided."

There was another growl of thunder. Then lightning, flickering on Cube's damp face, Coin's scarred one.

"You…" Gum stared at Cube.

"Oh, for god's sake!" Cube snarled. "I'm a lesbian, okay? I'm a dyke, I'm a queer, I'm a disgusting sick freak. That's what _you_ said," she sobbed, turning to Coin. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gum asked.

"Because I knew you'd all hate me! Only Combo knows, he knew when we were still Triple-C. I went to the Classy Lassy place because I was desperate…I just needed to feel for once that I wasn't hiding…"

"We wouldn't hate you," Gum said. "Honest we wouldn't."

"Oh, yeah?" Cube said. "You heard Coin. He loved me. He would do anything for me. When I'm straight. Once I'm warped, as he so kindly put it, I'm nothing."

"You told me you loved me," Coin said, fury trembling under his voice. "You promised you loved me. You promised."

"After you went away I realised my feelings had changed, okay? It wasn't you. It was – it was –"

Coin moved painfully, but horribly fast. He grabbed Cube's wrist, hauled her up to face level. 

"I don't care what it was," he said. "You lied to me. I needed you, and you turned away. I bet you loved it that the Rhinos got me. I bet you were so happy you couldn't breathe!"

"What happened next?" Gum cried. She couldn't stop looking at the axe.

"Next?" 

Coin turned to face her, dropped Cube, who splashed back into the water. 

"I tried to write to her. I wanted to tell her I loved her. But I couldn't make the words work – they kept changing and I couldn't make them do what I wanted. I kept on trying. Lots of letters. I think she knew who sent them."

"You sent the letters to her?" 

"That's right. Who else would?"

"We thought – we thought they were to Mew…" 

Coin snorted. "Well, you thought wrong."

"You bastard." Cube's face was still pale, but now the tears had gone, were replaced with fury. _"_You did send all those. I didn't know –"

"You really couldn't figure it out?" Coin sneered.

"I – I thought it could be, but I didn't want to believe it…"

"I just wanted you back…I just wanted to tell you I cared about you…" Coin closed his eyes, winced. "I did, really…I just couldn't do it…"

"You never cared for me," Cube said. "No one who cared for me could do something like this."

"Well, I tried! I saw who you fucked at Classy Lassy, I followed her, I – I wanted to tell her not to touch you and – that didn't work either –"

"You killed her too," Cube said, voice flat now.

Gum glanced out of the garage window. The road was empty. Dark. If he killed her and Cube, they could be here for ages if he planned it right. 

He _can't _kill us. Something's got to save us. Right?

"I just…talked to her…then I hit out and…and she was dead." His eyes were frightened, as frightened as Gum herself was feeling now. "But I thought maybe no one would know. Anyway, I tried to write to you, Cube, lots of times, but I knew it wasn't working…I used to hang round the garage, see what you were doing."

There was silence now, except for the sound of dripping water.

"Gum," Cube said. "You remember, back here, when I came in and told you I'd been rejected by a guy?"

"Yeah."

"It wasn't a guy. It was Mew."

"Yeah," Coin said. "I thought now I'd got rid of that other girl you'd stop. I thought I could be with you now. And then I saw you go after _her."_

"But she said no," Gum said. 

"I saw you all move out. I hurried to the house before you, hid in the basement. I wanted to stick with Cube. That night I climbed up the chimney, up into your main room. I walked into the kitchen. I wanted a weapon, I was scared someone would try and hurt me – I smashed the glass case and took the axe."

Gum realised she'd stopped breathing, and took a slow, nervous swallow of air. 

"Mew came in to see what the noise was about. It was dark, she couldn't see me. And I was so angry with her. If she hadn't been there it would have all been okay, Cube wouldn't have done it…"

Cube was crying again.

"I hit her."

The sentences were delivered flatly, by someone who was too tired to care.

"I didn't realise I had the axe at first…then I did."

His eyes showed hate now.

"I thought if I did that she wouldn't be so damn pretty…Cube wouldn't want her any more…and then she was dead. She didn't scream, I killed her with the first blow."

He drew a deep, pain-filled breath.

"There was blood everywhere. It was worse than anything the Rhinos did to me…I hated myself. I heard you come downstairs."

Gum met his eyes as the lightning turned him white for an instant. This was it. This was the killer. This was the person she was supposed to loathe.

"I could see you were sleepwalking. I put on the lights, then ran back into the other room. I climbed back down the chimney and hid there. I could hear everything they said. I'd heard everything all day…how you," he looked at Gum, "had had your boyfriend stolen…I felt sorry for you then."

Gum saw, on the edge of his T-shirt, faint, rusty stains, old now. She swallowed as nausea rose in her stomach.

"But then I heard them all accuse you. I didn't want them to find it was me, they'd hurt me bad, you were so angry anyway, it would be easy. I heard Beat kick you out of the GGs. I decided I'd act how everyone thought you would."

"You chopped up the speaker," Gum said, throat aching.

"Yes. Then, that night, I heard how Tab had found the letters."

Gum remembered Tab leaning against the fireplace as they talked, and groaned.

"I couldn't remember exactly what I'd put in them," Coin said. "I thought they might be a giveaway. That night I crawled up the chimney to your room."

"The guy who hit me – that was you!" Gum's voice rose with fury. 

"I thought if I told you you'd done it you might believe me. You had been asleep, after all. I went down the chimney again after."

"You're damn right I believed it. You – you – how dare you? How dare you?" Gum forgot the axe, forgot everything, ran forward and slapped Coin round the face.

"No!" Cube screamed.

Gum felt something heavy catch her in the ribs, throwing her down into the water. Biting her lip against the icy cold, she stared up at Coin. His eyes were raw with pain.

Thunder growled again.

"Don't – don't touch me – you just keep away…" 

His voice was stumbling on a thin line between fear and anger.

"I heard Tab say he'd found something out, I thought I'd be blamed. Everyone went out. I hid the axe under the bed in the other room, I thought if it was found in the basement they'd all know it was me. That night I knew I couldn't stand by and let him just tell everyone."

He took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair. 

"I heard him screw you."

He laughed a moment, bitterly.

"Then when you went to sleep I went and got the axe. I just hit him once. I didn't want to hurt him, I just wanted him out of the way. Then I dropped the axe on the floor, I hoped you'd be blamed, and then I went back down to the basement."

"What happened to the letters?" Gum stared up at him, gritting her teeth against the freezing water soaking into her clothes. 

"I took them out of his boiler suit and tore them up. I hoped he was dead, but he wasn't. I couldn't believe it when you all started suspecting him. Then you found the basement. I heard you come down, I climbed up into the chimney and hid until you'd gone."

"You made the footprints."

"I heard Cube yell at Combo, heard her say she was going back to the garage. I thought I could go talk to her. But _you _were with her. I thought – I don't know what I thought. And now I'm here."

"Gum…" Cube's voice was trembling. "Look at your side."

Gum glanced down.

There was blood all over her dress. She studied it coolly. It didn't look like it belonged to her. And yet it was frightening.

"You cut her." Cube stared at the axe blade. Gum could see red on it.

"Where did you get the axe from, anyway?" she said.

"I found it. Your ex buried it in the garden. Not far from his girl."

"Why did you bring it?" Cube snapped. "Why did you bring it if you just wanted to _talk?"_

"I was too scared not to."

He meant it. Gum could hear the fear in his voice.

"I don't want to hurt you," Coin said. "I don't…but I've got to keep going. I can't let myself lose…"

Gum looked at the axe again. It seemed pretty strong. Strong enough to break a bone – she felt a whimper rise in her throat. 

Coin was gripping it with white-knuckled hands. Gum could see scars ripped across the pale fingers. 

_Broken glass? Or kitchen knife? And did they put salt on them?_

"What do you mean, you can't let yourself lose?" Cube said over another mutter of thunder. "It's not a battle, damn it, it's not like I'm a prize for the winner. It was my decision to do what I did, and I'm sorry. Why can't you just move on?"

"You don't understand…" Coin said. "If I lose…if I just give in I – I'm scared I'll fall…"

"You're making no sense," Cube snapped.

"Yes, he is." Gum could feel herself trembling, and not because of the cold water. "He means if he doesn't fight, if he doesn't do something, he'll have nothing to distract him from what the Rhinos did. He'll have to remember, and he doesn't know what'll happen if he does."

"How do you know all that?"

"Let's just say been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

Cube swallowed. "I'm – I'm sorry…"

"Why else do you think I ran away from home?" Gum snapped. "Why else do you think I got so freaked when you started beating me up?"

"I told myself when – when it was really bad – if I got out I could see you guys, you'd help me," Coin said. "When I saw you doing what you did I knew I'd been wrong. I knew you'd betrayed me."

Gum was starting to feel drained. She wondered how much blood she'd lost. And she was so cold…it hurt to keep shivering but she couldn't stop.

She closed her eyes a second, and heard Cube gasp. "Gum, you look like shit."

"Thanks a bunch."

"Coin, we've got to get her to hospital."

"No. No, if you go you'll tell everyone and then they'll hurt me…I've heard you all talking. I saw what you did to her when you thought she killed Mew."

"No one will hurt you," Cube said. "I promise that."

"Why should I believe anything you say?" Coin's voice was rising with fury. "You lied to me about everything else you said, you slut, you bitch, I hate you, I hate you –"

Gum's eyes flew open just in time to see the axe rise and fall. Waves broke across her as Cube struggled to roll out of the way. 

There was a thunk.

Cube swallowed as blood started to run down her arm. "So you loved me? You've got a weird way of showing it."

Coin stared at the wound he'd just made. "Now you really will hate me, won't you? You'll tell them all."

"I won't –"

"You will. Don't lie, Cube. I've heard the way you acted to Gum. You hated her. You'll hate me."

Despite her terror, Gum felt a weak flame of satisfaction that Cube picking on her had snowballed so badly. 

"No," Cube said. "Please, please, Coin, no."

She was looking up at him, up into his eyes. Gum saw, as if in slow motion, him raising the axe, the lightning turning him into a silver statue for a brief moment – Cube's eyes were wide – and she screamed – 

Time slowed…

Let him, Gum's mind whispered. Cube deserves it.

_Is that what you thought about Mew when you killed her?_

I didn't…

_You're going to kill Cube any moment now. You're crazy, you're crazy, you're crazy –_

Almost too late.

Gum threw herself across Cube, pushed out at Coin's legs – she felt the impact as the axe struck her side – Coin fell, dropped to his knees – he stared at her with pain-filled eyes.

"Why didn't you…" he cried out. "I thought you understood."

"You can't kill her," Gum said. "Listen to me. You don't have to kill people."

"I don't know what to do!" he yelled. "I can't make anything work any more, and I'm so scared!"

The axe was shaking like crazy. Gum tried to ignore it.

"It's okay," she said. "You don't need to be scared. Really. It's okay." She struggled to keep her voice low and calm, and tried not to think of the blood all over her clothes.

"You can't fool me with that psychotherapy shit," Coin spat out, suddenly sounding cynical. "I know what happens to people who kill people. If I don't do something, you'll send me to jail."

"I won't," Gum said. "I nearly ended up there myself, of course I wouldn't put you in there."

"But _she _would." 

"I wouldn't," Cube whispered. Her lips were trembling. 

"I don't believe you…I mustn't believe you…"

Please believe us. Gum didn't say it out loud. 

"Even if you do kill us," she said, "what will you do then?"

"I don't know. I'll try and get away." Coin staggered to his feet.

"You won't get away," Cube snapped. Her voice was weak but Gum could hear the fury in it. "Because the really bad shit is in your head…and if you kill us, you're no better than the Rhinos are…and that'll blow your mind if you think about it too long…then you'll be nothing but a babbling loony, and then you'll be trapped for good."

The axe bit down through the water, sending up drops into Cube's face.

"I am not trapped," Coin snarled. "I won't let you trap me."

Gum swallowed and tried to stand up, but her legs didn't seem strong enough and she dropped back. Now how much blood was it? How long till she died? 

Tab and Botan knew where she'd gone. But would they come and help or would they think Gum and Cube had gone back to the house? 

She couldn't rely on them. 

Cube's eyes were closing.

"Cube?"

The Gothic GG pitched forward into the lightning-bright water. 

Gum grabbed her, pulled her head up from the flood, shook her. But it was no good. Cube was out for the count. The only good thing was that she was still breathing.

So she couldn't rely on Cube.

Which left one person.

Herself.

Coin swung the axe, but he was trembling so badly it missed them both.

"Please don't do this," Gum said. "It really won't help."

More thunder.

"I don't want to listen to you. I just want to be left alone."

"You think they'll leave you alone if you kill us? They won't. You can stop now. You can stop."

He wasn't listening, she could see he wasn't. It was no good. She was going to die in here, in the angry wet night, watched by the empty garage.

She closed her eyes.

"You don't need to hurt people," she said. It was better in her own darkness. She could fool herself she was safe. The thunder crashed above them. The storm must be right overhead. 

Cube was slumped over her lap, cold and small.

"You can let us go. It won't do you any harm."

Was he moving? 

"I know you're a good person really. You just got a little confused." As she spoke each word, she wondered whether she'd get a chance to say the next one.

Where would he hit her?

Dripping water. Thunder crashing over and over again. 

She could run. But Cube couldn't. And she wasn't going to leave the other girl to die because you just didn't do that, you just didn't.

Goodbye, Tab, she whispered in her mind, and let her head fall. If he struck her on the back of the neck, maybe she'd die quickly.

(And it's another cliffhanger, sorry! I'll post soon. Hmmm…Noisetank13 and Xyrer get cookies for figuring out who the murderer was…and Disk gets one for figuring out Cube was a lesbian. Congrats, guys!) 


	12. 12

Chapter 12

The storm stopped a moment, and she heard Coin speak.

"I'm not good."

"You could be."

She opened her eyes, stared into his face. His expression lanced into her mind like lightning. The pain – the fear – the fury – she'd felt all that. Just like that. 

I could end up like him, she thought.

But I haven't. I haven't.

No. I'm gonna end up dead.

"I'll try…" Coin licked his lips as his voice broke. "I'll try and make it quick…I don't want to hurt you, you seem okay…but you know what it was like…_but I can't fall…"_

Falling…she squeezed her eyes shut again. Cube, I'm sorry, she thought. Phrases whispered, memories stored in the pages of her brain.

__

You're crazy…Jet Set Radio…get out…Theatre Of Sound…I'm a rudie…hey, you…Coin, huh?…leave me alone…try this…I didn't…get serious…I haven't…goodbye…

There was a thump, and a splash.

Gum didn't move. Please, just do it. Cube's shoulder blades dug into her legs.

"Gen! Are you okay, what's he done to you?"

Botan.

Gum opened her eyes.

Coin was crouched on his knees, clutching his face. Botan stood over him, fists raised. The axe had disappeared.

"What's going on?" Botan growled.

"He tried to kill us…I think…I don't really know…" Gum felt distanced, like her mind was floating up out of her skull to some happy place near the ceiling. "What are you doing here?"

"Tab sent me. We hoped you and Cube'd get your butts out of here, then we thought maybe you hadn't." Botan was gasping for breath, his eyes narrowed. "When I came in I saw him standing there with an axe in his hand. He was just watching you…I gave him what he deserved. Who is he, anyway? Which GG?"

"None of them. Cube's old boyfriend. He's been through a lot." 

She'd slowed him down. He'd waited. And that had saved her.

"He killed Mew?"

"Yeah. Botan, I think you'd better call an ambulance."

"Why?" 

"Because I think I'm gonna faint, and there's a big hole in my side."

She didn't really remember much of what happened after that. There was a smear of memories…being in an ambulance…someone calling…bright hospital lights…sleep. Wonderful, peaceful sleep.

When she woke up, she saw Tab sitting next to her. He still looked weakened, pale, but she was just grateful that he was alive and moving.

"Gum," he said. "You – you – you are okay, right?"

"Of course I am." Gum sat up a little. 

"Be careful. God, I can't believe I sent you into that!"

"What else could you do?"

Tab shrugged. "I didn't think. I was just so damn crazy to prove it wasn't me…"

"Stop it." Gum leaned her head up, and kissed him. The quick closeness made her feel warm, in a strange, almost painful way, inside.

"What's happened to Coin?" she asked when they finally moved apart.

"That's the thing. When Botan was so worried 'bout you he kinda lost track of Coin."

"What?"

"Now don't start panicking!" Tab said. "You're supposed to be recovering –"

"So Coin is not only not caught, we actually have no idea where he is. Oh, great."

"Yeah, but I don't think he'll come back to find any of you guys. Botan said he looked in a pretty bad way. What was with him, anyway?"

Gum explained. "How's Cube?"

"Oh, she's fine. A little freaked out, but fine. She said you saved her life."

"I don't really remember." Gum lay back and tried to enjoy being warm and comfortable and safe. Most of her could luxuriate all too easily. But a low growl of uneasiness echoed beneath the pleasure. 

"It's okay now," Tab said. He was holding her hand, nervousness strung along his muscles. "It's all okay."

A low hiss of rain pattered below his words.

Three days later Gum and Tab were both discharged from hospital. 

"And it's still raining," Gum muttered as they dashed along the street.

"Look on the bright side. We're alive."

The GGs were still living in the house because the garage was flooded. Gum was starting to hate it. Too many memories. 

They reached it, and stood facing the door.

"We've got to go inside sooner or later," Tab said.

"Must we?"

"Gum, it's all sorted out now. No one's gonna hate you."

Gum shivered as raindrops ran down the back of her neck. "Okay. You go first."

Tab pushed the door open, and Gum followed him inside.

There was a bang, and both of them were covered in streamers as Yo-Yo let off two party poppers behind them.

"Surprise!" everyone else yelled.

What's this? Gum wanted to ask. A We're Sorry You Were Suspected Of Being A Psycho Killer party? 

Stop it. There's no need to be nasty. 

Someone turned up the radio until the music – Up-Set Attack – was pounding up through her skates into her ribcage. 

"Okay…guys…" Beat was valiantly trying to speak over it. "Guys…_will you turn that shit down! _Thank you. Right. Okay. Gum, Tab, on behalf of all the GGs, I'd like to say – we're really, really sorry."

"Hey, that's okay," Tab said. "I'd just like to say, I totally forgive you, and now let's party!"

"Yeah." Gum felt the corners of her mouth turn upward in a fake smile. "What he said."

As the music pounded out again, she looked round the room. Slate was slouching in one of the corners, looking as un-partied-up as she felt. And Cube was nowhere to be seen.

All the GGs, Beat? she thought.

One apology, and that makes everything all right again. One apology, and all the stuff everyone's done is forgotten. 

She glanced at Beat. He didn't look too happy either. He was staring up at the sound system, to where Mew used to sit. 

Gum walked over to Combo, who was glaring at his ghetto-blaster like it had just started playing Britney Spears.

"Where's Cube?" she asked.

"Don't know, don't care."

"You still mad with her, huh?"

"Yeah. Don't you try and write it off as nothing. She acts like she's my friend and then she stabs me in the back – I never called her no names about her being what she was." 

Combo sighed and got to his feet. "But don't let me spoil the party atmosphere, okay? You just enjoy yourself."

"How can I? Hardly anyone else is."

She turned to check out the other GGs. Garam and Piranha were dancing together, arms wrapped around each other. And Yo-Yo had disappeared.

Gum gloomily remembered that at all their other parties, he had spent most of his time trying to get close to Mew.

This was getting too bleak for words. 

She decided to go and find Cube, and headed up the stairs.

Cube was curled up on the bed in the room opposite Garam and Piranha's, shrunken, eyes full of misery.

"Why don't you come join the party?" Gum asked.

"I'd rather slit my wrists with a blunt razor."

Gum sat down next to her. She didn't really know what to say. Comforting had never been her forte.

"Is it the Combo thing?"

"That, and finding out a person I loved is a person I hate, and missing Mew so much I want to kill myself to stop the pain."

"But she rejected you."

"You think that means anything? I just wanted to be near her. It was like – she brightened up the whole room when she was in it. She made me feel so damn happy whenever she even spoke to me. She was a nice kid, I wanted to look after her, I wanted her to look up to me, I wanted to be the only person in her life."

Cube didn't look at Gum as she spoke. The words clattered around them both like drops of gold.

"When she rejected me I felt like shit. I didn't know what to do, but we spoke, later on…the evening she died. She told me she was sorry she'd upset me, but she wasn't able to love me back. Not the way I wanted. It was nice she told me but it tasted so bitter, it hurt so much to look at her and she wasn't with me, Beat was getting it all instead, lucky bastard…"

She drew a tired, miserable breath.

"When I found out she was dead I – I hurt all over and I couldn't even show it."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gum asked. "Did you really think we'd hate you?"

Cube shrugged. "I was going to, sooner or later…but then those damn letters started coming. I hoped they weren't from Coin, I prayed it, but I thought, what if you guys were the same, underneath? I couldn't risk it."

"I'm sorry." Gum reached out to touch her arm, then stopped.

"Don't worry," Cube said. "I'm not attracted to you, okay? Don't act like I'm a sex-crazed beast or anything."

"Don't be like that," Gum said. "No one hates you, anyway."

"Except Coin."

There was silence for a moment. 

"Coin and Combo were the only people I could rely on. Ever. And now one hates me and he's damn right, and the other – well, you saw him! He's snapped, he's lost it, and he thinks I'm disgusting."

"He's gone now."

"He's still out there." Cube grinned without showing any happiness. "Sort of like a dream come true, ain't it? You don't know how many times I wanted him back. Even after I knew I preferred girls, I still wanted him as a friend."

Gum stared out at the window, which was wrinkled with glinting rain. "Combo will come round. I'm sure he will, you guys have been friends for too long."

"And Coin?"

"I don't know."

"I didn't think it was you who did it at first because you said you didn't…I mean you denied it…and I did think you ought to have some more proof. Then Tab got hurt…I just thought it had to have been you and I was so mad at what had happened to Mew…"

"Forget it."

"I'm sorry. I'm just – really sorry."

"Cube, I said forget it! We all did dumb stuff, don't beat yourself up about it."

"No. Combo'll do that for me. Here, you go down to the party. Have some fun."

"It's like a graveyard."

"Go anyway. You don't need me dragging you down."

"If you're sure…"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Scat."

Gum got to her feet and headed downstairs.

Someone had had the idea of playing Spin The Bottle. The atmosphere was slightly better, but only slightly.

"Come on, guys," Gum said. "Mew would want us to have a good time, you know that."

"Spin the Bottle's no fun without her," Yo-Yo muttered. "Garam and Piranha keep fixing it so they get to snog each other 24/7, Cube's not here, you'd kick me if I tried to kiss you, and everyone else are guys."

"Mew would have kicked you if you tried to kiss her," Gum pointed out.

Yo-Yo shrugged.

"Where's Cube, anyway?" Beat asked.

"She's upstairs being gloomy." Gum glanced at Combo. His face had gone wooden.

"Don't look at me like that," he snapped. "I ain't going to apologise to her. Not now."

The party broke up at about midnight. 

"Where're you sleeping tonight?" Tab asked Gum.

"Oh, and why would you want to know that, hat boy?"

"Call it wishful thinking."

"If Cube's not in my room, up there, otherwise downstairs in the main room."

Tab crossed his fingers and muttered to the sky, "Let Cube have left…let Cube have left…"

They walked up the stairs and opened the door. The room was empty.

"Yesss!" Tab punched the air. "I mean, ahem, oh, that's nice, I guess."

"Nice, huh?" Gum kissed him.

"Very nice."

She kissed him again, and kicked the bedroom door shut.

Gum yawned and opened her eyes. It was dark. She sat up a little, trying not to disturb Tab, who was slumped next to her, and reached for his watch. Three a.m. Nuts.

Now why did you wake me up at this time? she demanded of her brain.

Glancing over to the window – they'd forgotten to draw the curtain – she saw it had stopped raining. The sky was a deep, echoing black.

And then she heard a creak from downstairs.

You know this house is ancient, she whispered, feeling cold sweat start to patter onto her forehead. It's no one down there, or if it is, it's someone got up to get a drink, oh, god, not that again –

Another creak. 

The sound of running water.

There was definitely someone down there.

Yeah. Another GG. No one else.

She shivered as the cold air caressed her bare skin, lay back down, tried to go back to sleep.

It was no good. Her ears were strained, ready to grab any little sound. Her whole body seemed taut and tense, like a violin string under pressure.

All right, fine. She'd go back down and see what was going on. And it probably would just be someone washing their face or getting some water or something. 

She got out of bed, her toes numbing as they touched the floor. Scrabbling around in the darkness for her clothes, she eventually got them on and then headed for the door. 

Outside the landing was a pit of shadow. Gum tiptoed across the floor towards the stairs. At the bottom she could see the front door casting faint light over the sleeping GGs in the main room. 

The kitchen door was closed, and no sound could be heard. She wondered if she'd picked up the noises through the chimney. 

The bottom of the stairs now. Night covered the GGs like water. She stepped around them to the kitchen door. 

Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulder and she just managed not to scream.

"Gum, it's me, Cube."

Gum turned, feeling like she'd just been shaken inside. "Don't ever do that again. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry. Listen, I don't understand what's going on. I had a dream…"

"Don't we all?"

"Listen to me!" Cube whispered, so violently that Gum stepped back a little. "I was gonna kill myself. I mean I really was, I didn't dream this. I waited till everyone was asleep, then filled the sink with water and shoved my head under."

Gum stared at her, feeling like she'd been hit with a lump of ice. "You – you –"

"Listen!" Cube folded her arms, glared at Gum. Her hair was damp, forming rat tails round her face. "I let myself fall forward, I took my feet off the floor so I couldn't raise my head out, not very easily anyway, I was in there, I was starting to black out, choking, and then someone pulled me up."

"Who?"

"That's just it. It was Coin."

"What?" Gum yelled.

"No, ssh, listen. It was him as he is now, he had that scar on his face, but he was kind to me. I was – I was crying, and he was holding me, he just let me cry on his shoulder, he didn't touch me…and that's weird enough as it is, normally he'd be groping like he was in the Olympics for it."

Gum blinked, wondering if she'd dozed off. This all had an unreal quality to it. 

"He walked me back to bed, he said, 'don't do that again, you don't need to, I won't hurt you…' I think he read the note I left. He lay me down, he wrapped the blanket round my shoulders, he just kissed me once, on the forehead, then he said, 'I'm sorry. Forgive me, I'll never hurt you again,' and then he walked away. I was just dozing off when I realised what had happened."

"You mean – you mean he's here?" Gum said.

"Yes."

Both girls turned to stare at the kitchen door.

"We have to check," Cube said.

"Let's check with someone else."

Cube walked over and shook Beat until he woke up. "I think Coin's in the kitchen."

Beat's eyes narrowed. "Let's go."

The three of them crept towards the door.

Beat pushed it open.

Coin stood by the sink. There was something sharp and glittering in his fingers.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Gum yelled.

"I – I came to see if Cube was okay." Coin shrank back from them. 

"Like hell you did," Beat snapped. "What's that you're holding?"

Coin held it up. It was a razor blade.

"I couldn't find the axe…" he said.

"You come to kill more of my gang?" Beat's voice rose with fury.

"No, I –"

Beat rushed forward, and punched Coin in the face, cutting off his sentence. Before the other guy could react Beat had hit him in the stomach, then Gum couldn't see where next, Coin crumpled to his knees, Cube was screaming "Stop it!" 

Gum was dimly aware of the other GGs crowding in behind them, but she couldn't stop watching the fight. Coin didn't seem to be retaliating, Beat was hitting him over and over, Coin put up his hands to shield his face, the blade glinted in the light, Beat tried to grab it, the darkness hid what happened next…

Beat stumbled back, crimson speckles spattering over him, clutching one arm, blood running down his skin…

And Coin lay there, his throat slit.

(Sorry! Another violent ending! I don't do this on purpose! R+r!)


	13. 13

Chapter 13

(Waaaiiii! Last chapter…gasp…please r+r! By the way, I ought to mention there's some religious stuff in this chapter. This is in no way meant to imply that other people's beliefs aren't valid, or anything like that. I'm sorry if it annoys you, but I've tried to write this chapter three times and putting what I did at least made it work and helped the story move forward. Anyway, so don't rant, and please r+r!)

Lots of screaming. 

Cube dropped down next to Coin. "Get up, damn you, you're not dead, you idiot, you crazy punk, get up…"

She started to sob. "Call an ambulance! Come on, move it!"

Gum stared at Beat. His arm had gone red.

"I don't think it's going to stop," he said.

"Oh, my god…"

That was Piranha.

Blood in the kitchen. Gum swallowed. The sounds were lengthening in her ears, roaring, distorted, mingling with Mew's voice, speaking words she couldn't pick out. 

"Gum, what's happened?"

Tab. Gum gripped his shoulder, wondering if she was going to faint. 

The ambulance screeched to a halt outside, sending a flickering blue light over the kitchen, turning it into a stage scene. 

Gum hardly noticed as the two guys were helped into the ambulance. The world was fading, the colours running together, the voices forming a swarm of sound that surrounded her and dragged her down.

As she keeled over, she was only conscious of Tab holding her up.

When she opened her eyes, she was upstairs again.

What happened? Something had gone on during the night…

Beat. And Coin.

Gum sat bolt upright and winced at the dizziness that spread through her skull.

"Careful," Tab said. "You'll hurt yourself."

"I'm fine. What happened to Beat and Coin?"

"Beat's okay. Everyone was a little worried for a moment but he's pulled through."

"And Coin?"

Tab shook his head.

Gum walked downstairs. Everyone else was out. Gum was glad of that. She felt shaken – drowned – by the events of last night.

No. Not everyone was out.

Cube was kneeling in the centre of the room, hands neatly placed on her lap, her shoulders shaking.

Gum could just make out what she was saying. She wanted to step back, but if she did the other girl would know she was there, and that would be cruel. So she stayed still.

"Okay." Cube drew a deep breath. "Dear God. If you exist, which I very much doubt, because if you did, and you let all the shit that's happened happen, then I don't see how people can worship you. Anyway. 

"Um. I bet you won't listen, because it's not like I ever did this before, and from what I hear you don't like people who only start calling on you when bad stuff happens. But I can't not try.

"It's Coin, I guess. I mean, I know he killed Mew. He tried to kill Tab, and me, and Gum. But then he saved me. And now he's dead."

Gum heard her voice shake a little. She didn't want to hear this. But she couldn't move now.

"Well, I always thought I was an atheist. But now – now he's dead I don't want him to just be nothing. Though I know that's what's really happened, of course. But it's just if, if there was some sort of afterlife thing, he could get some of it? I mean, something nice? He didn't mean to do what he did. I mean, I guess he did, but…oh, screw this! Just be nice to him, okay?" She snapped that. "Don't make him suffer. He saved me. He saved my life and then he was killed or he killed himself, I don't know…

"Not that you'd be too happy about me being saved. No one else is, I bet. And I don't see why you'd be any different. You only like the Bible-bashers, and I sure ain't one of those. Just don't hurt him any more. He's been hurt too much."

She got to her feet.

"And don't hurt Mew, either, please…I don't think you will, though, will you? Or will you? I mean, she never hurt anyone."

Oh, didn't she? Gum thought. But the anger was only a slight twinge, like a sore joint. The rage and misery she'd felt at Beat and Mew had faded."Well, that's all now. I'd better go."

She dusted off her clothes, picked up her spray paint. Gum tried not to move.

"Oh, and – and they say you should be sorry and all about all the things you've done. Well, I'm sorry about what I did to Gum. Nothing else, just that. Oh, and about calling Combo – what I called him. So there."

"I should apologise to the dude as well." Combo's voice rang out from the direction of the kitchen. "But I'm even less of a believer than you are."

"So you're talking to me now," Cube said tonelessly. "Please don't start breaking my bones just yet, it's too early."

"I read your note. I saw what it said."

"Your point being?"

"You were gonna top yourself just cos I wasn't talking to you?" Sadness stirred in his voice.

"Not just that. Don't flatter yourself."

"I didn't want to make you do that."

"You hated me."

"It ain't worth hating someone if you're gonna drive 'em to do that. I shouldn't have tried to blab to the others. Garam and Piranha forgave ya."

Cube shrugged. "Do you?"

"Course I do, you prat."

She smiled. A small, painful smile, but a smile nevertheless. 

Gum saw Combo cross towards Cube. "Now, you coming out or not?"

"Who said I wasn't?" She hefted her spray paint.

"Then let's get moving."

As they crossed to the door, he hugged her roughly across the shoulders. She shoved him off, but Gum could see joy bright in her face. Then the door cut off the view.

Gum scowled. She knew she should be happy that those two had made it up. But she wasn't. Maybe Cube had stopped hating Coin – they were, had been, friends anyway – but she herself certainly hadn't. 

She touched her ribs, remembering how she'd pictured the hate lapping at them inside her. It hadn't gone. If anything, it had got worse.

She was sick of this house. She hurried down the rest of the stairs and out into the open air.

Not raining at the moment. Well, that was something to be grateful for. 

She turned right, and walked round the corner of the house to the small garden where Mew had been buried.

Beat and Slate were both there, and she drew back, then scowled. Why should they keep her out like this?

She coughed, deliberately, and stepped forward. Both guys turned to look at her. She braced herself, but Slate just shrugged, and Beat gave her a nervous smile.

"Hey," she said. "Sorry to interrupt you if you're busy or something."

"Nah. I was just leaving." Slate made his way out of the garden. As he passed her, he said, almost too quiet to hear, "I'm sorry, okay? I'll make it up to you sometime."

"Thanks," she said, surprised, but he'd already gone.

She turned back to face Beat. 

"Well…" He stared at his skates, which were damp with dew. "I guess it's all okay again."

"It's not." Gum came towards him. "I'm sorry. About her. About you and her."

"You don't have to be. I was a jerk to you."

She shrugged. "Well, big deal. You suffered for it all right. Sure, it hurts you dumped me. But I have someone else now. You seem to have lost out."

Beat stared down at the dug earth where Mew lay. He didn't speak. 

Gum hugged him, and she felt the misery inside him for a moment. The hug made it obvious that they weren't together any more. It was like hugging a brother.

They moved apart at last, and Beat said, "I'm going inside."

He'd reached the edge of the garden when he looked back and said, "Thanks."

And then he was gone.

Gum stood there, looking down at the grave. 

"Hey, Mew?" she whispered. "I'm sorry I hit you."

It was very quiet here. The cars – all the sounds of the city – were nothing but a low murmur. She breathed in the scents of damp earth, of grass, of faded petrol. Around her the sky was huge and grey-white. A brand new day.

She glanced up at the roofs around them. A rudie could jump on those, grind, make shapes against the everlasting sky. And the walls could use some colour.

The GGs would be leaving. But maybe this place wouldn't be totally barren. Ghosts had their interests just like anyone else, didn't they? 

She thought that she heard Mew laugh. "Cool!"

Or maybe she'd just not been getting enough sleep lately.

And Coin? 

She dropped her glance to the ground. She hated Coin. He didn't deserve peace…

…but he'd suffered as much as she had, hadn't he? Those scars. And he'd chosen to. He'd done it to save them all. 

"Oh, all right!" she snapped. "Maybe I don't like you. But you can have a nice afterlife or whatever."

"Who can have a nice afterlife?"

Gum turned. Botan stood at the edge of the garden. 

She shrugged. "Coin."

"That's kind of you."

"Hey, Botan?" She walked over to him. "Thanks. Thanks for everything."

"I didn't do jack. You're the one who was pig-headed enough to stick with it."

"Yeah, right. So, anyway, thanks for putting me up, and –"

"Zip it. I'm cool. You okay now?"

"I guess so. People are speaking to me again. And – and I don't hate them. Mew. Or Coin. Or any of them."

"You'll be fine. You've got Tab, and all. And you're tough."

"That's the one thing I don't want to be."

"You're not still worried about Nara, are you?"

"Worried? Guilty, more like. Ever since it happened. And this hasn't helped."

"Should do. It proved you don't always use violence."

"Huh?"

"You didn't kill Mew. Coin did. And no matter what anyone says, that's the truth."

That's true, Gum thought. For the first time some of the shameful weight on her shoulders subsided. "You're getting back to the Riders, then?"

"Yeah." Botan grinned. "All this playing detective wasted my time. I have work to do."

"I'll see you around, then."

"You bet. Bye, Gen."

"Bye, Botan."

She watched him walk away, then took one last glance round the garden. The clouds were parting. It was going to be a sunny day at last.

And suddenly she was happy. She leapt, punched the air, shouted at the top of her lungs, "Jet Set Radioooooooo!" and then she headed in to find Tab. No point in wasting the good weather.

(It's over…I wrote a murder mystery! Yayayayay! Sorry. Okay, thanks to everyone who r+red, I really appreciate it. Thanks to Disk for helping me out with the orange. Thanks to Nik for trying to help me work out who the killer was. I love you all!)

THE END


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